My Funny Valentine
by georgieboy225
Summary: It's Valentine's Day, Hermione is spending it all alone, or is she?
1. Chapter 1

Title: My funny valentine

Summary: It's Valentine's Day and Hermione finds herself once again without a Valentine. Though, this year someone sent her a rose, who could it be?

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine except for plot, but hey, if J.K Rowling wants to give the twins up for a weekend or two, I won't complain. Also, story contains "Every Rose Has It's Thorn", by Poison, also not mine.

Author's note: Okay, this is actually supposed to be the second chapter, but it didn't work out that way. This is my first time writing a Hermione/George story, so please I can handle constructive criticism, but please don't flame. Thanks, hope you enjoy.

Hermione laid in her Prefect's room wide awake with no reason behind it. She looked over at her clock and groaned, it was four o'clock in the morning and not just any morning, but Valentine's Day morning. The day she dreaded the most. She reached over to her dresser to turn her light on when she knocked over a picture. It was a picture of Fred, George and herself from early in the summer before her 6th year.

* * *

As Hermione looked at the picture, she was amazed at how quickly she became friends with the twins. She never really thought that she would. She was friends with Ron and Ginny, and she guessed that would be it from the Weasley family. Bill was already going out with Fleur when she finally met him, so she made no big deal to try to form a friendship with him, though she was always friendly towards him, Charlie was always away in Romania, so she never really met him till this past Christmas, and Percy, well, she figured if she would be friends with anyone other Weasley it would be him. Percy was smart and knew what was going on, someone she knew she could share opinions with, someone to have an intelligent conversation with. The twins, well, she always thought the twins were always too wrapped up in their jokes and inventions to try to get a friendship with a book worm out of her. But when she became Prefect in her 5th year, she met the boys one too many times in the corridors after curfew.

All those nights when they were out trying their inventions on Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris Hermione would catch them. She never took house points from them, or wrote them up for detention. They did something to her that she never experienced; they treated her like a girl. Even though she knew it was only to get out of receiving detention, she looked forward to it every time she went on her rounds. They charmed her, teased her, and she even heard a little flirting from time to time from George, just remembering those nights walking back to the Gryffindor common room with them made her blush.

She all but practically cried when she saw the twins up and drop out of school. She had no one there that gave her much attention anymore. Sure Harry and Ron were still friends with her, but they never treated her like a girl. She remembered Ron's sorry excuse to asking her to the Yule Ball in her fourth year, "Hermione, you're a girl." she was really upset to find out that it took him four years to figure that out.

Though, as soon as she reached the burrow later that summer, to spend it with Harry and Ron, the twins cornered her and asked if she wanted a summer job in helping out at the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Her first reaction was just to drop her mouth in surprise and asked what she could possible do to help out down there and they told her that they needed help with all the accounting and paper work. Knowing how smart she was, it would just seem the best idea to have her work for them.. She quickly agreed to help them over the summer.

…

It was the greatest summer of her life. She had a great time hanging out with George, Fred, and his girlfriend Leanne. Hermione and Leanne became great friends within the summer months. The boys took the two girls out for lunch almost every day down to the Leaky Cauldron. It was the first day that the four of them walked into the pub when the waitress came over and said, "George Weasley, you finally found yourself a girlfriend. That's great!"

Hermione blushed furiously at her accusation, but went from embarrassed to shocked when George just smiled, put an arm around her waist, and drew her closer to him.

When the waitress walked away George did not remove his hand from her and sat back against the booths bench, taking her with him, so she was leaning up against him. Hermione just looked up at him and George innocently asked, "What?"

Fred laughed and said, "She just didn't think that being girlfriend to the one of the owners was part of the job description."

George looked down at her and smiled sheepishly, "Oh come on, Mione. It would have been more awkward for her to hear that we weren't dating. Besides," George said quickly, so she couldn't respond to his excuse, "in a few weeks we'll come in here and tell her it's our anniversary and maybe we'll get some free food."

Hermione laughed and swatted him on the chest saying, "Only you, George Weasley, would think of going out with me only to get free food."

"Can't blame a chap for trying," George said, and then pretending to look hurt said, "Are you breaking up with me?"

Hermione laughed and said, "Of course not! Why would I do that so close to our anniversary? I'll wait to see what you buy me and then I'll decide." George look dumbfound at her and Hermione laughed, "Can't blame a girl for trying."

"Ooo, she got you there little brother." Fred said.

Just then the food came and the conversation stopped and Hermione was thankful for that.

…

The summer went by pretty fast for Hermione, she was spending more time with the twins then with Harry and Ron, who both did not seem to mind at all. So, instead of hanging out with Ron and Harry when she got home from work, she stayed in town and helped renovate the upstairs of the joke shop into something that Fred and George could live in.

It was the last weekend before school started up again when Hermione walked into the Joke Shop and heard Fred and George yelling at one another.

"Oh, come on George!"

"Fred, you want the whole weekend off!"

At that moment Fred shook his head, as if something was fogging over his head and said, "Bloody hell, what am I doing? I'm co-owner; I can take a weekend off if I want to! I don't need your permission!"

"We're starting to get really busy, and this is the last weekend before Hogwarts starts up. We are going to be swamped, besides that we need to try out our new candy stock."

That's when Fred saw Hermione and said, "Hermione can do it! She knows how to work with the customers and I'm sure that she'll stay late with you tonight and experiment the new candy."

Before Hermione could say anything, George said, "Yes, I'm sure that's how Hermione wants to spend her last weekend of her summer vacation, working her ass off and spending her last Friday and Saturday night trying chocolates that could result in having horns sprouting from her head."

Before Fred could say any word they heard Hermione stammering, "I… I don't mind." Hermione said truthfully, "But if you don't want me to, then I don't have to."

George looked a little shocked and said quickly, "I don't mind, Mione, it's just that you spent your whole summer with us two blokes, I just thought that maybe you might be getting a little sick of us and may want to spend your last weekend with Ron and Harry, or Ginny."

"Well, Ginny, Ron and Harry haven't even noticed that I haven't been around all summer, so I bet another weekend won't make them miss me anymore," Hermione said with a smile.

"Thanks, Mione!" Fred said and he hugged her and gave her a wet kiss on her cheek. "Leanne's parents are gone for the whole weekend and we want some alone time." Fred said wiggling his eyebrows.

"Ugh," George said, "Hermione does not want to hear about your love life."

"Well, at least I have a love life to speak of." Fred said. "Good-bye all." Fred yelled over his shoulder as he shut the door behind him.

As soon as the two were left alone, Hermione apparently thought that her feet looked more interesting then anything else. When she realized that she must look like an idiot just standing there looking at her feet, she went about her work making everything was in order.

George went behind the counter to work on some paperwork and without even looking up, he said loud enough so that Hermione could hear him, "Mione, I do appreciate your help, you know, and sacrificing your last weekend to help me out."

Hermione walked over to the counter where George was standing behind and placed a friendly hand on his arm, and said, "George, it's no problem, really. Besides I am not sacrificing anything. I am spending my last weekend exactly how I want to," She looked up into his eyes and smiled.

"Really and how's that?"

"Well, I'd expect any girl would be thrilled to be spending a weekend _alone _with her boyfriend." Hermione said with a salutary smile.

George's eyes went a little wide, but when he realized that she was kidding he just laughed. "Thanks, Mione. You're the best girlfriend ever," with that said they both started to laugh and then everything got a very busy.

…

As lunch time neared they finally slowed down until the last person left. George put up a sign in the window stating "Closed for lunch." and leaned against the door.

"Bloody hell." George muttered.

"You can say that again," Hermione said as she sat up on the counter and removed her shoes from her feet. "This afternoon, can you work the floors and I stand behind the counter flirting with the cute customers," George looked a little confused, "Three men stepped on my feet today," George just nodded in as he understood what she meant. "So can we?"

George's eye widened and asked, "Can we what?"

Hermione sighed and said, "Switch places, you stand out here on the floor have people walk over you, and I'll stand behind the counter flirting with the cute customers," Hermione said the same thing over again.

"I wasn't flirting!" George said in his defense.

"Oh, so what, those extendable ears just happened to be free?" Hermione asked with a knowing smile. The tip of George's ears turned red with embarrassment of being caught, "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Oh, Hermione, she didn't have enough money." George said in his defense, once again.

"Oh and her shoving her excessively amount of cleavage in your face and pouting her lips didn't help?" Hermione couldn't understand why she was getting so upset with him. It wasn't like George was her real boyfriend, and she caught him flirting with another girl. Hermione went still at that thought; did she want George to be her boyfriend? Did she like him _that _way? No, of course not. She answered herself. She was just spending too much time with him. She knew that if Fred were here with her, she'd be saying the same thing, right?

Just then they heard their stomach growling telling them that they wanted to be feed. George put a hand over his stomach and said, "Come on, let's go get something to eat."

As the two entered the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione was laughing at something that George said, and they took a seat at their normal booth.

As the waitress came over she asked, "What can I get you two to drink?"

George smiled down at Hermione and said, "Katy, give us two glasses of your finest wine."

Both Hermione and Katy's eyes widened at the order and Katy asked, "What's the special occasion, hun?"

George smiled and said, "It's our anniversary."

"Oy, Tom," Katy turned her head and called out, "We got a couple here celebrating their anniversary!"

"Oh, yeah, who?" As Katy motioned towards the two and then Tom exclaimed, "Well I'll be! If it isn't one of my finest costumers!" he smiled over at the two, while wiping a glass in his hand, "Dinner is on me this afternoon, kids!"

"Why, thanks!" George said as he put his arm around Hermione.

After Katy took their orders and scampered away Hermione turned to George and said, "What is wrong with you?"

"What?"

"What if he tells someone?" Hermione asks.

"Does Tom know who you are?" Hermione shook her head, "Then what do you have to worry about. Do you how many kids and couples come here through the year? By the time you come back here for your first Hogsmeade trip he won't even remember who you are."

Hermione sighed and sat back against the booths bench.

As Katy came back with their food she said, "So how long have you two been going out."

"One year," "3 months," George and Hermione said at the same time. Katy only looked confused.

Hermione turned to George and said, "George, you have known me for a year, it took you 9 months to finally ask me out."

"So, how did he do it?" Katy asked in a sigh.

Hermione thought for a quick second and said, "Well, I've known George since I was 11, and we finally became friends just this past year. Then one day he just comes up to me and says, 'Mione, we're going out and if you have any objections you better say so now.'"

"And then what happened?"

"I didn't say anything." Hermione said with an evil glare. "And then the tip of ears turned red, like they do when he's embarrassed and then he just started to babble and say something like he didn't mean it or something."

"They do not," George said with the tip of his ears once again turned bright pink.

"Yes, they do." She said to George and then smiled. She turned back to Katy and said, "See Katy?" Hermione said pointing them out. "I love it when he does that, makes me just want to kiss them," Hermione added as she traced his shell of his ear with her finger nail.

A shiver ran down George's spine at her touch. As soon as he regained his composure he turned to Hermione and said, "Well, you bite your bottom lip whenever you're thinking or nervous. Makes me just want to bite it too." George said chomping his teeth together.

"Yeah, so what happened next?" Katy asked, reminding the two that she was still there.

Hermione smiled and said, "Well, I grabbed him by his collar and kissed him," Hermione said smiling, "and now I finally had a legitimate reason to kiss his ears."

Katy sighed and whimpered saying, "I wish I find what you two have one day."

…

Hermione and George came out of the Restaurant laughing.

"That was so fun!" Hermione said between gasps.

"Who would have ever thought that my Mione was so forceful?" George said as he placed his arm around her shoulders.

Hermione stopped and went serious, "I could!"

George turned around and looked at her, "No, Mione I very doubt that you could," he said with a little laugh.

"How do you know?" Hermione asked insulted.

"Mione, I've known you since you were 11."

"So, it doesn't mean you know what I would or would not do."

"Okay, Mione," George said not believing her.

"One day, George Weasley, one day, I will prove you wrong."

"Until that day, Granger, I will be ever doubtful!" George said with a smile and he grabbed her hand to pull her along.

The rest of the afternoon was just as busy as it was that morning. George did switch places with Hermione and took the floor while she took care behind the counter.

…

That night at 8:00 p.m. Hermione finished up with the last customer and George closed the door and locked it after he left.

"Phew," George said as he stood against the door.

"Yeah, so how many people stepped on your feet?" Hermione asked.

"None and how many customers did you flirt with?"

Hermione sighed sadly and said, "None."

"You seem so sad about it."

"Yeah, well, you know, whatever," Hermione mumbled, "I want some chocolate."

"How about I get us some take out and then we'll go after the candy." George suggested.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and said, "Fine, I'll set the back up." Hermione said and headed into the back.

George grabbed his cloak and headed out into town.

….

After an hour the two ate their supper in silence and took a seat on the floor, all the candy in it's' boxes.

The first few candies had Hermione turn purple and another that gave her a tail. George had ones that turned him into a squirrel and one that had a horn pop out of his head.

Hermione laughed and said, "How ironic, you were afraid that I would have a horn pop out of my head and instead it happens to you."

George cringed as he felt the horn that was coming out of his head, "So, how does it look?"

"It's very you, George, very you!" She laughed and the horn disappeared. "You know, nothing is staying too long."

"Hermione, these are test candy, it's not supposed to stay too long right now, not until we get it perfect. Besides you were purple for 30 minutes."

"True, true. So what's next?"

George grabbed another candy out and said, "Here, this is a water filled chocolate."

"Water filled?" Hermione asked in disgust.

"Yeah, you eat the chocolate and a gush of water comes out of your mouth."

Hermione took the candy from Georges' hand and popped it into her mouth.

"So?" George asked, "How is it." Hermione gave him a thumbs up, but then suddenly went rigid, "What, what's wrong? No water?"

Hermione got up onto her knees and crawled over to George. "Hermione," George squeaked out and then cleared his throat and repeated her name.

Hermione crawled up beside him and slung a leg over his own and straddled his lap. George got a bit more nervous and once again opened his mouth to ask her what she was doing when she grabbed him by the collar on his shirt and kissed him hard.

George put his hands on her hips ready to push her away, but when he felt Hermiones' hands in his hair and her tongue sneaking its way into his mouth, George went against all his morals and clutched Hermione closer against him. As the two parted for air George was very sure that the candy had worn off, but as George felt Hermione's lips against his ear he knew he was wrong. George said her name in breathy voice as he felt the tip of her tongue outline the shell of his ear.

George did the only thing he could do; he started to apply kisses to her exposed neck. He nipped, suckled, and bit at her skin, unconsciously knowing that he was going to leave a mark.

Suddenly, George felt Hermione's hands on his chest violently pushing him away as she backed off of him and went back to her own spot, "George, what the hell?" Hermione said mortified of her actions.

George, being startled by her swearing, and still trying to get all his emotions composed, he said, "Apparently that wasn't a water filled chocolate."

"George!"

"Well, I guess I was proved wrong," George snickered, referring to the conversation they had after leaving the Leaky Cauldron. George noticed the evil glare that Hermione was giving him, "What?"

"Why didn't you stop me, push me away, or something?"

"I… um… I… what was the question again?" George said trying to stall time.

"George!" Hermione said starting to get angry.

"What, it's a really strong spell; I couldn't even get you off of me."

"George, you didn't even try!"

"Hermione, what can I say, I'm a weak man. It's been a long long time since a beautiful woman jumped on me like that."

Hermione's head turned down and she blushed. She raised her head and muttered, "Flatter."

"Who, me? Nah, I only tell the truth." George said leaning against backwards using his hands to keep him up, his legs in front of him spread slightly.

Hermione decided that if he wasn't bothered by what she just did, then she was just going to drop it too. Hermione grabbed another box of chocolates and said, "Invisibilities?"

"Aye, allows those kiddies with little pocket money to become invisible." Hermione looked confused at him and George said, "Hermione, not everyone is as special as Harry Potter and owns their own invisibility cloak."

Hermione was about to put the candy in her mouth when she decided against it and handed it over to George, "It's your turn."

"Scardy cat," George said as he took one of his hands off the floor and grabbed the candy from Hermione's outstretched hand. Suddenly George's body disappeared, "Aw, Bloody hell, it didn't fully work," George said noticing that his clothes were still visible.

"What if we double the mixture?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"Might work, hand me another candy."

Hermione grabbed another 'Invisibilities' out of the box and held it out to him. Instead of grabbing the chocolate with his hand, George leaned forward and ate it out of her waiting fingers. Hermione jumped slightly at the feel of his teeth grazing against the skin on her fingers.

When George finished chewing the chocolate his clothes then disappeared too. Hermione clapped her hands in excitement at coming up with the idea of doubling the mixture. "It worked!"

"Good job, Mione," she heard from an invisible George. "Make a note of that."

As Hermione started to make a note of this finding, she realized something; she opened her mouth to talk when she noticed that the first chocolate concoction already wore off. _Well, at least I was right about my conclusion_, she thought to herself as she glanced over at a naked George Weasley. She knew she shouldn't look, she didn't want too, but her brain had other thoughts. She carefully glanced over to him, so to not let him aware that his body was back from the invisible state, but his clothes were not.

Hermione decided to start with the line of skin directly under his neck, which has always been hidden from her view due to the dress shirts and robes that he wore all the time. She followed a path down his collar bone, over his shoulder, and onto his arms. Something deep within her stirred up when she looked at his arms, not knowing exactly why though, they were just arms. Well, muscular arms that she knew he acquired from his years at planning Quidditch. _'Maybe'_, her head starting talking to her, _'that it has to do something with the fact that those arms where only momentary ago wrapped tightly around you. Yes, those arms are what he used to pull you up against his chest, as he was kissing you.' _Hermione wanted that voice to go away, it wasn't helping. Her eyes skimmed over to his chest, which was lightly covered with red hair. Seeing his bare chest, she inwardly wished that she had her hands on his chest instead of running through his hair. For a brief moment, Hermione wondered what it be like to trace the plain texture of his skin with her fingertips. She wondered if his skin would be warm under her touch, and wondered what kind of noise he would make when she would skim her fingernail over his taunt nipple. Hermione could not believe the thoughts that were going through her brain at this moment. This wasn't like her; the old Hermione would have covered her eyes by now, letting George know that he wasn't dressed. The old Hermione would not be looking at his naked flesh, getting just a little more excited as her eyes continued to follow a path down his chest to his inie belly button, to his happy trail, which she was happy to know that he did indeed have one, and then finally to his…, "Oh wow," Hermione said as she had her first glimpse at that part of a boys' anatomy.

George looked confused at her for a moment before he noticed where her gaze was aimed at. Mortified that he was caught in this weird predicament, he quickly shield himself with his arms and hands, and crossing one leg over the other for good measure. "Hermione!"

Hermione, realizing that she was caught, quickly shielded her eyes with her hand, not removing her hand from her face for a few more moments until George said that it was okay to look.

"Hermione, what the hell? You could have said something?" George said as the tip of his ears started to turn bright red. Hermione bit her bottom lip; she didn't know what to say. Those ears of his were mocking her again, she wanted to go over there and touch those ears, again. "Hermione?" George said getting impatient about her quietness.

"I, well, I… um," Hermione paused for a moment, took a deep breath and smiled, "George, what can I say, I'm a weak woman. Besides, it's been a long long time since I've seen a good looking naked man," Hermione said blushing and cursing herself for doing it.

George just sat there looking aghast at her for a second before breaking out in laughter, "How is it, Hermione, that you always best me just one extra step? Am I just getting slow in my old age?"

"No," Hermione said, "I just had two great teachers," she said honestly. The two broke out with laughter, both glad that things were now not weird between the two of them.

The next morning Hermione had a rude awakening when she heard Ginny squeal and then pounce on her. Hermione sat quickly up in bed and said, "What's wrong?"

"Hermione Granger, tell me who is he!" Ginny demanded.

"What are you on about?" Hermione asked realizing that this was not a dire situation.

"That, who gave you that, Hermione? Who have you been seeing?"

Hermione's eyes widened at what could possibly be on her neck. She threw the covers off of her and ran to the bathroom shoving Ron out of the way. As Hermione ran to the mirror, Ron was insistently banging on the door to be let in. Ginny, who apparently followed Hermione into the bathroom opened the door and screamed at her brother, "You're a boy, there's a forest of trees behind the house, go pick one out!" and slammed the door in his face.

Hermione moved her hair away from her neck and gasped when she saw the purplish mark on her neck. "I am going to kill him."

"Kill who?" Ginny asked standing beside her, "Tell me! I want the juicy details," before Hermione even had a chance to open her mouth Ginny continued, "You meet someone in Hogsmeade, didn't you? Some wizard, oooo, is it the new waiter at the Leaky Cauldron?"

Hermione couldn't tell Ginny what really went on the previous night with George, she'd tell everyone. Hermione said the first thing that came to her mind, "Actually, it was Henry, one the new summer workers at 'Flourish and Blotts.' I've been going there every day during lunch time to look at some books and to brush up on my flirting skills." Hermione said with a smile, "Yesterday when I went during lunch time, Henry, grabbed my arm and dragged me to one of the aisles that has boring books, pushed me upside one of the bookcases and kissed me. We were there making out for almost an hour before I realized that I was late to getting back to work."

Ginny smiled and then laughed, "That was actually a pretty good story, Hermione, and I would have truly believed it, if I wasn't so certain that it was my brother who gave it to you."

Hermione's eyes grew slightly larger at Ginny's correct accusation and asked, "What would ever make you think that?"

"You mean besides the fact that you kept calling his name out last night."

Hermione's eyes grew as large as they could, "I did not!" she gasped.

"Did too. Okay, well actually you threw some other things in there to. Things like, 'Yes, George, right there,' and something about his ears," Ginny said disgusted, "It was so bloody horrible that I had to sleep downstairs on the couch."

Hermione still didn't believe Ginny, but the part about his ears threw her off.

At that moment a flood of memories came rushing back. She remembered his hands, his calloused hands caressing her naked flesh, touching places where she, herself, never ventured. She remembered his hot breath against her skin, following the same path his hands just traveled, making her head thrash back and fourth. Her one hand was in his hair pulling him closer to her body while the other grasping at the sheets below her. Hermione recalled not even recognizing her own voice as she begged him for more, begged him not to stop, never to stop. She remembered that smile; the George Weasley smile that could make her grow week in the knees, the smile that he gave her as he tore his lips away from her body. 'Never' she heard him say in a promising tone. Then he kissed her. It was nothing like the first kiss they experienced together last night; this kiss was more passionate, as though he was trying to tell her something through this kiss.

"So, it is true!" Ginny said as she sat up on the bathroom counter.

Hermione jumped out of her dream and said, "What, what's true?"

"That my brother is the one that gave you the love bite."

Hermione sighed. She couldn't lie to Ginny, not now, "You can't tell anyone!"

Ginny squealed with glee as she hugged Hermione to her, "About time you're going out with one of my brothers! I always thought that it was going to Ron, but George, George is great! He's the most serious out of the two of them. George and Fred, I mean, not George and Ron," Ginny said making sure Hermione understood her.

"Ginny!" Hermione said trying to get Ginny's attention, but it didn't work, Ginny kept going on and on about how happy she was.

"Oooo, maybe one day you'll two get married and I'll have a sister!" Ginny got even more excited.

"Ginny!" Hermione screamed clamping her hand over Ginny's mouth. "We aren't going out."

"You aren't?" Ginny said with tears practically forming in her eyes, "Why not? Is he not good enough for you?"

"Ginny, we're just friends, nothing more. This," Hermione said as she pointed to her neck, "was the result of a candy experiment mishap," Hermione went on to tell Ginny what happened. Though in her story, they both had a piece of 'water filled' candy, only to find out that that was not what it was. She didn't want Ginny to know that George did this on his own accord.

"And the whole reason for the overdramatic sex dream?" Ginny asked.

Hermione blushed and said, "A mishap with an Invisibility candy," Ginny nodded, as she could tell what mishap that could have been. Then Hermione gasped, "Ginny, what am I to do?"

"It's no problem, that's what make-up is for."

"No! I mean how am I to face George? I mean what if every time I look at him I just keep remembering… that," Ginny's only response was to laugh, "What's so funny?"

"You are what's so funny," Ginny said as her laughing ceased, "Miss Know-It-All has her first sex dream and you're too immature to even say the word."

"Ginny, it's not funny!"

Ginny cleared her throat, "Sorry, Mione. Now, look there's no problem."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, it was a just a dream, it's not like you have any feelings for him, right?"

"Right, then I should have no problems?"

"Right," Ginny said, "Now let's cover this hickey," and she took some cover up and worked on her friend's neck.

Later that morning…

Hermione ran towards store for the fact that it was raining so hard. She was out in the rain for no more then a few minutes and the rain soaked her clothes so that it was sticking to her skin and had matted her hair to her head.

As she turned the knob to open the door, she found that it was locked. Remembering that she was a whole hour and a half early, the shop didn't open until 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning; she took her key out and let herself in. As she took her cloak off and shook her head to get the excess rain off herself, she was surprised when she heard the radio on. Knowing how the twins liked to sleep in on their weekends she was a little nervous of how the radio could have been turned on.

We both lie silently still in the  
dead of the night  
Although we both lie close together  
We feel miles apart inside

Hermione knew the song in a moment. She grew up on American Oldies.

Was it somethin' I said or somethin' I did  
Did my words not come out right  
Tho' I tried not to hurt you  
Tho' I tried  
But I guess that's why they say

Though, as she got closer to where the radio was behind the counter she was amazed that it wasn't on.

Every rose has its thorn  
Just like every night has it's dawn  
Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song  
Every rose has its thorn

Yea it does

Hermione strained her ears to figure out where the music was coming from and she realized it was coming from the twins back storage room.

I listen to your favorite song  
playin' on the radio  
Hear the DJ say love's a game of  
Easy come and easy go  
But I wonder does he know  
Has it ever felt like this  
And I know that you'd be here right now  
If I could have let you know somehow I guess

As Hermione neared the back room she heard the singing getting louder, so she knew that she was going the right way.

Every rose has its thorn  
Just like every night has it's dawn  
Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song  
Every rose has its thorn

As Hermione opened the door just a crack she was amazed that the music wasn't coming from a radio, it was coming from… George. Knowing that he didn't know she was there she listened to him sing as he hutched over the work table and worked on something in front of him, probably a new invention, Hermione thought.

Though it's been a while now  
I can still feel so much pain  
Like the knife that cuts you  
The wound heals, but the scar, that scar remains

I know I could have saved our love that night  
If I'd known what to say  
Instead if making love  
We both made our separate ways

Now I hear you've found somebody new  
And that I never meant that much to you  
To hear that tears me up inside  
And to see you cuts me like a knife

As George finished the song, Hermione clapped. George jumped up and turned around quickly.

"Merlin, Hermione, how long have you been standing there?"

"Not too long," Hermione smiled and started to laugh

"What, was I really that bad?" George asked.

"No, you're glasses," she said as she put a hand over her mouth to try to muffle the laugh.

George was wearing a pair of glasses that were the equivalence to a magnifying glass and with them on, they made his eyes look huge.

"Oh," George said as he pushed them up onto the top of his head. "Helps me see the mechanisms better."

Hermione gave him a confused look and then walked over to the work table. "What's up with CD Player? You do know we have one just like this out there behind the counter, right?"

"This is dad's," George answered, "It broke the other day and he dropped it off to see if I could get it work again."

Hermione's eyes grew large, "You mean that you can fix things? Like Muggle things, you create things that blow up and you fix Muggle inventions?"

George shrugged, "Just a hobby, Mione. Have to have one of my folks like me," George said with a smile, "Fred and I may not be mum's favorites, but at least dad loves us. I've been interested in Muggle things since I can remember. When dad used to bring things home everyday, we'd sit at the kitchen table, late at night just the two of us," George said as he remembered the days so long ago, "but then things started to break, so someone had to fix them. I found out that I was quite handy with my hands," George held his hands up as he smiled brightly.

That was the same smile that Hermione remembered seeing in her dreams and yes she did recall those hands being handy. Those hands, the same hands from the night before which held her hips in place as his body invaded her own. Those hands that held her and caressed her body so gently that it made her feel like she was fragile and something so important that he didn't want to accidentally hurt her or break her.

"Hermione," George called out her name as he noticed that she just stood there starring at him, "Hermione," he called again as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently.

Hermione came out of her thoughts the moment she felt his hands upon her. She glanced up at him and then at her arms where he was touching her. Hermione shook herself out of her trance and stepped away from him.

"Sorry, I…" Hermione was lost for words, "Um…" she motioned to the door and opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She cleared her throat and said, "Food," Hermione wanted to mentally smack her own head at her stupidity, but that would only make George more suspicious about her.

"Hermione," George took a step towards her and said, "are you okay?"

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was, "Hungry."

"Okay," George said looking at her weirdly. He fished his keys out of his pockets, "Why don't you go up to the apartment. There's some food in the Frig. I'll be up in a moment too."

Hermione nodded her head and grabbed the keys from his outstretched hands and went further into the back of the shop that would bring her to a set a stairs that would take her to the flat.

As Hermione walked away, George brought the glasses back over his eyes and went back to work on his fathers' CD player.

As Hermione got into the apartment she closed the door, locked it, and slide to the floor. She couldn't believe the way she just acted in front of him. It was just a dream, she kept telling herself. Just a dream! Why was it bothering her so much? She didn't know how long she was sitting there when she heard someone knocking on the door. Hermione yelped and stood up.

"Who is it?" She asked with a shaky voice.

"Me, Mione," it was Ginny's voice that Hermione heard through the door. Hermione unlocked the door and let the girl in. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Hermione asked confused.

"Harry, Ron, and I all came to go get a few things in Diagon Alley, and so we decided to stop by. George said that something came over you, said that you could barely say two words. Well, actually he said that all you did say was two words. What happened?"

Hermione closed the door, grabbed a hold of Ginny's arm, pulled her further into the room, and looked around as though to see if anyone else was around, and said, "It was the dream, Ginny."

Ginny rolled her eyes and said, "Hermione get over it! It was a dream! I had dreams about Harry before; do I act strange around him? No, and do you know why? Because it was just a dream!"

"That's different," Hermione said.

"Why, because I like him?" Ginny watched as Hermione bit her lower lip, "You like George," Ginny didn't ask, she stated this.

"No," Hermione jumped up and defended herself.

"Yes you do."

"No, it's more of an infatuation," Hermione bit her lip again because she let it slip out. Before Ginny could open her mouth to say something Hermione said, "It's just, you know, he's the first boy, well both George and Fred, they are both the first ones to treat me like a girl, you know," Hermione said trying to find the right words to explain herself, "Not like Harry and Ron do, when I'm around them, I'm just one of the guys, you know. When I'm with the twins, I'm a girl. I mean, it's just George is the first boy to flirt with me, George is the first boy I've ever kissed, the first boy I've ever seen…" Hermione looked around to make sure no one was around, and then whispered, "Naked."

Ginny had to bit the inside of her lip in order not to laugh at Hermione's immaturity. Instead she nodded her head and said, "So something like what I had with Harry in my first year."

"Exactly," Hermione said.

Ginny just shook her head at Hermione and said, "Come on, let's make some breakfast, I heard George say he had some food in here. Which is a miracle if you ask me." Hermione only laughed in response and followed Ginny into the small kitchen in the twin's apartment.

…

After the two girls cooked up a meal of omelets for themselves and the boys, Ginny, Harry, and Ron said their goodbyes as they headed off to the streets to do some last minute school supply shopping.

Hermione was once again left alone with George, though, that did not last long as customer started to come in, which Hermione was very thankful for. George took the floor again and she stood behind the counter doing some paper work and cashing the costumers out as they came to her.

….

The few hours till lunch time seemed to rush by in a heart beat and before Hermione knew it George was closing the door to the shop.

"Well, ready for lunch?" George called out.

"Sure. The Leaky Cauldron, again?"

"Is there anywhere else?" George asked.

"I guess not, it is sort of like our tradition."

"Yeah," George said as he grabbed her cloak off the hanger and held it out to her.

Hermione walked from behind the counter over to him and stepped into her cloak, "Thanks," she mumbled as she felt him slip it around her shoulders.

George grabbed a hold of his cloak too, grabbed a hold of her hand, and opened the door, "Damn," he muttered, "It's raining again."

Hermione walked into the rain and turned to him and said, "George, it's London, does it do anything else?"

George laughed, closed and locked the door behind him, and joined Hermione out in the rain.

As the two entered the restaurant they threw the hoods off their cloaks off and continued laughing.

"George," Hermione laughed out, "Did you have to run through every puddle?"

"Yes, I did and I didn't hear you complaining as you ran through them too."

Hermione only blushed and opened her mouth to say something when they heard Tom, the barkeeper call them over, "Well, if it isn't the two lovebirds."

"Hey Tom," Hermione and George said at the same time.

"How are you two kids doing?"

"Just fine," George said, "Just taking my girl, here, out for our last lunch before she heads back to Hogwarts the day after tomorrow."

Tom only winked at the two of them as he put down the cup that he was whipping off and put it away, "Katy," Tom called her over, "Show these two kids to their table."

George and Hermione didn't need to be lead to their table and went themselves. As they sat down on the same side, like they always did, Katy asked, "So, girl, what did he buy you for your anniversary?"

"Anniversary?" came a voice from behind Katy. George groaned inwardly as he saw Ron, Harry, and Ginny all standing there.

"Anniversary for what?" Ginny asked as she and Harry slid into the bench across from George and Hermione. Ron slid onto the bench next to Hermione, making her scoot even closer to George.

"Two month Anniversary. They celebrated it yesterday."

"I knew it!" Ginny screamed out, "You told me that it was nothing, that you two we're just friends. So why were you all worried over the…" Ginny didn't get to say much more when Hermione kicked her hard in the shin from under the table. Ginny shut right up.

"Why do I feel as though I just let the cat out of the bag?" Katy asked.

"It's okay, Katy," George said, "We weren't just telling people, yet. Could you give us a minute?" Katy nodded and walked away.

"You two are going out?" Ron said in a tone that sounded between hurt and upset, "And you didn't even have the decency to tell Harry or I?" As Hermione opened her mouth to say something Ron continued, "How could you do this to us, Hermione, Harry and I never kept anything from you."

"Oh shut up you prat," George said, "We aren't going out. When we ate here the first time with Fred and Leanne, Katy just assumed we were going out. I didn't tell her any differently in hopes that we could get free food on our 'Anniversary'."

"You're such a jerk, George, using Hermione like that to get free food," Ron said to his brother.

"I didn't say anything either to make her believe that we weren't going out. It was just a bit of fun," Hermione said.

"Why don't we just order some food," Harry said as he picked up one of the menus.

…

Everyone ate in silence as their food came and said their goodbyes as the three flooed from the Leaky Cauldron. As Hermione and George were about to leave Katy grabbed a hold of Hermione's arm and said, "I really am sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Hermione smiled at the slightly older woman, "It was only his brother, sister, and my best friend, and they won't tell anyone until we're ready."

With that Hermione slipped her arm around Georges' arm and the two of them walked out of the Pub.

When the two were back at the shop George turned towards Hermione and said, "I was meaning to give this to you earlier, but I simply forgot."

Hermione watched as he opened his robes and took a small package out of his inside pocket and hand it to her.

"What's this?" Hermione asked, "My Anniversary gift?"

"Yeah," George answered. Hermione eyed him and said, "Just kidding, just a little something from Fred and I, as a thank you for helping us this summer. You know with the shop and the renovating the flat upstairs."

"Yes, but George, you guys paid me to do that. You didn't have to buy me something."

"We paid you?" George asked.

Hermione sighed and said, "Yes George, why do you think you paid me money every week?" As Hermione heard her own words and saw Georges' mouth open she quickly said, "Don't you dare answer that question!"

George laughed and said, "Hermione, I know this was like your summer job, but we were still thankful."

Hermione smiled and said, "You sure?" George nodded his head. Hermione walked to the back counter and opened the package and gasped.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it," Hermione gasped as she pulled the necklace out of the box. It was a silver chain with a silver 'H' attached to it, and on the 'H' was a small Sapphire stone on it.

"Here," George said as he took a hold of the necklace and helped her put it on. "Do you really like it? It's was Fred and mine first time going out to buy jewelry for a girl."

"You two made a good choice, but how did you remember that my birthday was in September?"

"Well, I distinctly remember someone jumping around and screaming, 'I'm going to be 16 in one month!' earlier this month!" George said imitating her.

"I wasn't that psychotic about it."

"Yes you were."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with being excited about my birthday," she insisted.

"Of course not. Just always stay that excited about your birthday. Your boyfriend will have one last date he'll have to remember."

Hermione laughed and smacked George on the arm.

They're conversation came to a sudden stop when costumers started to flood, once again, into the shop.

…

A few hours later, as the shop was closed up and the two of them left to get some take out.

As they walked into the Leaky Cauldron George heard Tom greet him again, "Two times in two days, what's the special occasion, George?"

"Working late these past two days," George answered him.

Tom looked from George to Hermione then back to George, "Ah, gotcha boy," and Tom winked at him. "So, what can ol' Tom get for the two of you?"

Before Hermione could voice her opinion she felt someone grab a hold of her arm and pull her away, it was Katy, "So, what did he get you?"

Hermione smiled and lifted her necklace away from her neck, "It's my initial and birthstone color."

George watched as the two girls sat at the other side of the bar talking up a storm. George smiled at the two, happy that Hermione was finally making some friends who were girls.

"She must be mighty special to you," George heard Tom say to him.

George took a quick look at Tom and then back at Hermione. He smiled and said, "Yes, she is," and for the first time he was amazed that he wasn't fooling around. Hermione was mighty special to him.

A few moments later their food was ready. George grabbed the bags, paid the man, and went over to Hermione.

As the two girls saw George approaching they stopped talking. Katy looked up at him and asked, "Do you have any other brothers like you?"

George laughed and said, "Bill's engaged, Charlie is too in love with his dragons in Romania, Percy… don't get me started with that prat, Fred is going out with Leanne, and Ron, well, good luck with Ron."

Hermione only laughed and Katy said, "Wow girl, you are a lucky one."

Hermione stood up, looked up at George, and said, "Yeah, I am."

George grabbed a hold of Hermione's hand and bid Katy goodbye. As they walked out into the streets George still did not remove his hand from hers and continued to hold it until they got back to the shop.

"How about we take the food and the chocolate and take it upstairs?"

"Sounds good," Hermione agreed.

As they reached the apartment Hermione said, "I was amazed to see food in your refrigerator this morning."

"Why?" George asked confused.

"Well, you and Fred are two bachelors. Bachelors never have food in their place. They live on take out and moldy cheese."

George laughed, "The only reason why there was actually food in the place today was because Fred wasn't here to eat it all."

Hermione froze; she just remembered that Fred was not here with them. She was alone in an apartment with George. Just the two of them, there was no one here to interrupt them should something happen. _Should something happen_ Hermione's mind mimicked her _and what the hell do you think he's going to do to you. He's not the same George as in your dream. He'd never want you like that. _Hermione started to talk, just so she could stop mentally talking to herself, "So, when does Fred get back?"

"I got an owl from him today," George said as he emptied the contents of the bag onto the table. "Said he'll be back before we open at noon tomorrow. Why did you need him for something?"

"Oh, no, no. Just wondering."

"Why, got something _special _planned out for me tonight that you don't want Fred interrupting?" George said with a smile as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"No," Hermione said as she blushed and smiled. _Yes, _her mind corrected her, "I was just wondering."

"Hmm, too bad," George said as he sat down and started to eat, "This is the last time I'd be able to hang out with you, just the two of us."

"Yeah, pretty sad," Hermione said as she too sat down, "Cause you know, I can't get here from Hogsmeade without breaking a few rules."

"Heaven forbid that Ms. Granger break a few rules."

"Heaven forbid that you come to Hogsmeade," Hermione mocked him.

"Maybe I will."

"Yeah, okay George." Hermione said.

The two ate in silence until a few moments later George asked, "Oh, yeah, there was something that I was meaning to ask you since lunch time," Hermione looked up at George and he continued, "During lunch when the gang found out about our 'relationship'," he said using finger quotes, "Ginny said something about 'she knew it' and then screamed at you for telling her that we were only friends. Did you say anything?"

"I didn't have to say _anything_," George looked confused as she sighed and stood up to walk to the sink, "She pounced on me this morning demanding I tell her who it was."

"Who what was?" George watched as she took a wet towel to her neck. He stood up and walked over to her.

"Who was the one that gave me this," Hermione said as she pulled her hair out of the way. George gasped. Not really knowing why, he should have known that something like this would happen, it wasn't like this was the first time that he gave a girl a hickey, "George Weasley, don't even look shocked. I know for a fact this isn't the first time you gave a girl one of these things."

"You do?" For some reason George felt ashamed that she knew so much about his past girlfriends. He felt like she just found this big secret about him that he's kept from her for years.

"Of course. Just because I don't have any girl friends, besides Ginny, it's not like I can't hear them talking about you and Fred."

"Well, why did you have to tell her it was me?"

Something in Hermione just died at those words. Was he embarrassed for anyone to know that he would willingly leave a mark on her? Hermione sighed sadly and said, "I didn't tell her it was you. I made up a good believable story that it was someone else, a boy in the book department in Florish and Blotts, but she saw right threw me."

"What did you tell her?"

Hermione sighed this time getting upset, "I told her that we both had a piece of the water filled candy, thus making us go after each other. Don't worry, George, no one will ever know that you gave me a hickey on your own accord!" She was proud of herself, she didn't shed one tear, that she was sure that she would be doing, and before George said anything else Hermione said, "I think it's time to bring on the chocolate."

"Excellent idea," George added.

The two walked over to the couch to try a few of the sweets.

"Okay, here, try this one," George said as he held a piece of candy out to her.

"What does it do?"

"It's filled with truth serum."

"No way!" Hermione screamed.

"Why?" George asked, "Is there something that you don't want me knowing?"

"N-no," Hermione stammered out, "It's just that I'm highly likely to embarrass myself."

"Oh, you mean like what happened to me last night?" George asked.

Hermione sighed, "Fine, but if I ask you to stop, you have to. And if I should let out a secret, you can't tell anyone!"

"Fine," Hermione took the candy from the waiting hands and popped it into her mouth. The look on Hermione's face made George laugh, "Does it not taste good?"

"It's awful!" Hermione said.

"Have to make a note to work on the taste," as he saw Hermione swallow the piece of chocolate he asked, "Okay, easy question first. What's your name?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Hermione Jane Granger."

"Have you ever broken any rules?"

"Yes."

George's eyes went wide. He was sure that if he was drinking anything, he would have spit it out. "You broke the rules?"

"Yes," Hermione groaned in embarrassment.

"What did you do?" Hermione's hand flew over her mouth and said something, but it was muffled. George took Hermione's hand in his and asked again, "What did you do?"

"I stole some potions out of Snape's classroom."

George's mouth just flew open and said, "Bloody hell, Hermione, Fred and I never even got close to do anything like that. What were you making?"

Hermione bit down on the inside of her lip, to try to keep her mouth shut, but it didn't work, "A birth control potion."

"Who… no, I don't think I want to know _that _much about you," but before he even gave her a moment to say something, George said, "It was Harry, no wait, Ron. It had to be Ron," Suddenly he heard Hermione laughing. He looked at her and she was in hysterics. "What is so funny?"

"You, you are what is so funny. You think that the potion was for me!"

"Well, of course, why is that funny?" George asked getting a bit irritated at being laughed at.

"George, who the hell would want to have sex with me?" Hermione blurted out and then her cheeks reddened at the thought of what she just said.

"Plenty of guys. I mean there's a lot more to you then you let on."

"And, you're the only one who knows that. No one wants to get to know me. They all think that all I am is smart and boring, and so no one wants to even try to get to know me any better. Not even Harry or Ron, they treat me like one of the guys, never like a girl. I mean you and Fred were the first boys that made me feel like a real girl," she tried to stop talking, she really did, but the potion hasn't worn off yet, "George, last night was the first time I was ever kissed," she saw as George's eyes widened and she added, "Well, actually I kissed you, but still you get the point. God damn it George ask me another bloody question!"

George laughed slightly and asked, "So if the potion wasn't for you, who was it for?"

"Ginny," Hermione blurted out before she could even stop herself.

"What, who? I'll kill him!" George said getting rallied up.

"No! No, she never used it!" Hermione said calming him down, "She never used it. She broke up with Michael before she could."

George let out a sigh of relief, "Maybe I could tell mum what she was thinking, and she'll send her to a convent or something."

Hermione laughed, "George, you can't tell anyone that I told you that!"

"Why?" George asked, and then it came to him, "She has just as big as a secret on you, doesn't she?"

"Yes."

"Ooooo, what is it?" George asked.

Hermione furiously shook her head, and clamped her hand over her mouth before she could say anything coherent, "Please don't ask me that question."

"Well, does it have to do with how you've been acting all day?"

"You've noticed?"

"Yeah, one minute you'd be starring into outer space, the next you get all red in the face, and then you'd avoid me like I had the plaque," George's eyes went wide, "It's about me, isn't it?"

Hermione moved her hand away from her mouth and smiled, "Yes, George Weasley, it does," before he could ask another question she said, "You've had a piece of something green in-between you're teeth all day and it's been driving me to the point where I can't stand looking at you."

"Well, Hermione, why didn't you just say…" George understood, "the truth serum wore off, didn't it?"

Hermione nodded her head and said, "You're turn."

George let it slid by and took out a different candy, "Hmm, lust candy. Well, if the lust candy was in the water filled box, then these have got to be the water filled candy. Want to try it out?"

"No, because I can simply push you away or hex you. Unlike what you did last night."

"Fine," George said as he popped the chocolate into his mouth and watched as Hermione readied her wand. George swallowed the candy and for a moment went still.

Hermione sat there frozen as he didn't open his mouth to allow a gush of water to come flowing out. She watched as he moved closer to her, and even closer yet. Why wasn't she hexing him as his face got closer to her, why was it that every nerve in her body was tingling with the sensation that this man might kiss her? As George moved so close that he was just an inch away from her face he opened his mouth and a gush of water hit her in the face.

"George!" Hermione screamed as she wiped the water from her face.

"Where was the hexing, Hermione, hmmm, and the pushing away, hmm."

"I was about to hex you!" Hermione said in her own defense.

"No you weren't," George stated. "You just liked my kisses so much last night that you wouldn't mind having it happen again."

"I don't want to eat anymore candy and I think I should be getting back to the Burrow," Hermione said quietly as she stood up.

George grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the couch and said, "No, don't go, Mione. I'm sorry I was so mean. Why don't you just stay for a little and we'll watch a little T.V., huh?"

"Okay."

But they didn't wind up watching too much t.v. The two got caught up in a long conversation of what it was like growing up with a lot of kids vs. being an only child. George told her stories about all of his brothers, and sister that made her laugh. All the pranks and jokes that Fred and himself would pull while growing up. Hermione told him how she went to boarding school when she was young and how nothing ever exciting happened. That's why she always thought that school, homework, and books, were always the best thing in the world.

Within the few hours that they were sitting there together they wound up sitting shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. As their attention went from talking to watching the T.V.

George opened his mouth to say something when he noticed that Hermione fell asleep against him. Her head rested against his shoulder, her legs up on the couch, and her hand was lying gently against his chest, right over his heart. George looked down at her and noticed that his arms were around her, holding her to him, and at that moment he wondered how long they were sitting like that. It just felt right. George leaned down and gently rubbed his lips over her forehead and saw a smile appear on her face, a content sigh escape her lips, and she snuggled closer to him.

Just then George heard a distinct pop coming from the kitchen. He thought at first it was just Fred, but then heard, "Oy, Georgie boy!" he knew it was his father.

Fred gently untangled his body away from Hermione and let her lay fully on the couch; not knowing that his actions actually did wake Hermione up.

Hermione, not knowing where she was awoke fully and then remembered she was at George's flat when she heard voices.

"We couldn't find Hermione," Arthur Weasley said to George, "So, I thought the first place to check was your place. What is she doing here so late at night?"

"Oh, dad," Hermione heard George say, "It's just Hermione. It's not like I was going to take advantage of her!"

Something in Hermione broke, is shattered so loudly that she could swear she heard it break, though she didn't know what it was. Silent tears started to fall from her eyes as she knew now that George Weasley would never feel the same thing that she felt. She didn't even know what it was. All she knew was that whenever she saw him her stomach felt funny, whenever he touch her, her skin tingled, and whenever he smiled at her she felt her knees go wobbly.

She watched as Mr. Weasley grab George's arm and drag him further into the kitchen and the Hermione could no longer hear the rest of the conversation.

"Yeah, George," Mr. Weasley said as he grabbed his son by the arm, "And Quidditch is _just _a game."

"Dad," George gasped, "Don't even joke about that."

"Exactly, son, so don't even try to deny that Hermione isn't more important to you then you let on," George looked down at his feet, he felt like a kid again, getting yelled at for doing something wrong, "It's nothing to be ashamed about. Hermione is a great girl, but what were you thinking about not sending her home at a reasonable hour?"

"Wait, wait… what was that?" George asked.

"Oh please, George, she looks at you every time you're not looking, and every time you look her way she turns her head and blushes."

George ran a hand through his long mane. He couldn't believe he was hearing this from his dad, "Dad, listen, it's just an infatuation. Like what Ginny felt towards Harry in her first two years at Hogwarts."

"But that doesn't mean that you don't feel something towards the girl."

"Dad… what… no. Ron's the one in love with her."

"Listen I'm only going to say this once, and if you tell your mother I'll deny it. I love my boys all the same, but Ron, he's not the brightest light bulb in the packet. He's going to wait too long and she's going to slid right through his fingers. The same thing will happen to you if you aren't quick enough."

George had enough; he was 17 years old and didn't need advice from his father, especially when he was so far off. Though, Hermione did make his heart beat a little faster whenever she was around… or while he was just thinking about her. George looked down at his father and said, "Whatever, dad, you found her, just take her to The Leaky Cauldron and get her back to the Burrow," Before his father could reply George was already walking back into the living room where Hermione was, to what he assumed, still asleep on the couch.

George knelt down beside the couch and gently shook Hermione awake. Hermione let out a moan, and George said, "Mione, dad is here. He's going to take you back to the Burrow. You think you can make it."

Hermione sat up and wiped her eyes, "What?" Hermione looked around and saw Mr. Weasley, "Oh, hi Mr. Weasley."

"Hi, sweetheart. You ready to get going? Mrs. Weasley was in a state, not knowing where you were."

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Weasley we just lost track of time, I guess."

"That's all right," Mr. Weasley looked from Hermione to George and said, "I'll be waiting for you downstairs," and with that he left the flat.

"Sorry about all this?" Hermione said, "Hope I didn't get you in trouble."

"No, no, of course not. Everyone was just worried."

Hermione stood up and grabbed her robes and her cloak and said, "Well, I'll see you… well, I, when will I see you again, George?"

"Monday at the train station."

Hermione smiled at him and said, "All right then. I'll see you Monday," and with that Hermione left the flat.

Monday came all too soon for Hermione. Her Sunday was dealt with Ron running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off. He always waited till the last minute to do everything, and getting packed for a new year at Hogwarts was nothing different. Harry and herself helped him as best they could and finally at ten o'clock Sunday night they got Ron all packed and ready to go onto the train the following day.

Hermione stood there on the Platform of 9 and ¾ waiting for the twins to show up. She said her goodbyes and her thanks to the Weasleys for allowing her to stay all summer and now it was five of eleven, and the twins were no where to be found.

"Hm, I thought that the boys said they were going to be here," Hermione heard Mrs. Weasley explain, "Oh, well, maybe they just got held up at their shop."

"Come on Hermione!" Harry called from the door to the train.

"Just a moment!" Hermione called after him.

"Go on, honey, get on the train!" Molly said to her.

But Hermione just couldn't go. George said he'd see her today at the station, and she would stay here till she no longer could.

She was about to give up all hope when she felt someone tape her on her shoulder. It was Fred and George.

"You two made it!" she said as the two boys hugged her at the same time.

"Wouldn't miss saying 'goodbye' to our girl, now would we," Fred said.

"Hermione, come on!" this time it was Ron calling for her.

"I have to go, but before I do. Here's a little something for you," Hermione said as she took a small package out of her robes and handed it to the boys. "And Fred thanks for the necklace."

"Necklace, what…" George elbowed him in the side, "Oh yes, the necklace we got for you. Your welcome!"

"HERMIONE!" it was Ginny, Ron, and Harry this time.

"Well, you better go," George said to her.

"Will I see you two soon?" Hermione said looking at George specifically.

"Sure, it's only what 3 weeks and 2 days left till your birthday, right?" George asked. "Couldn't miss that, now could we?"

Hermione stepped up on her tipped toes and gave each boy a kiss on the check and ran to the train just as it started to move.

As the boys were waving at Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Fred leaned close to George and said, "We bought her a necklace?"

"I did," George said.

"Whatever for?" George just shrugged his shoulders, "Damn it, mate, just tell her you like her and get it over with," and Fred left his brother standing there looking dumbfounded.

….End of Flashback…..

Just then Hermione's alarm went off and she turned it off and rolled out of bed to once again face another lonely Valentine's Day by herself.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry that it took so long to upload this chapter, but I was in Disney for like 10 days… WOO DISNEY! Greatest place in the WORLD! And then had a family emergency when I came back. Well, here's chapter 2 and chapter 3 will be up soon. Hope you all enjoy and thanks for the reviews!

Author Note: I made a mistake in the last chapter. The twins aren't 17 they would have been 18 at this point. Also, I'm switching two events around. Harry and Ginny get together before Christmas and Hermione finds Ron and Lavender making out after Christmas.

* * *

Hermione leaned over, turned her alarm off, and threw her sheets off of her. She quickly showered, changed, and headed off to the Great Hall with a few books in her hands. Hermione usually liked to spend a little more time on herself, but she didn't fell like seeing the couples sitting in the common room giving each other gifts or sitting there on the couch getting in a morning snog. 

Hermione opened the heavy doors to the Great Hall and was not at all amazed to see that she was the only one in there. As she walked into the Hall she jumped as she saw the fire in torches go from dimly lit to full blaze. She took her bag off her shoulders, hulled it onto the table, and took a seat at the Gryffindor table. She had her heart set on reading further in her Charms book, but the book she pulled out was not Charms, it was "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet." She let out a small sigh as she opened it and read the little inscription that said, 'To Hermione on her 16th birthday. With Love, your friend George.' She felt tears welling up into her eyes as she remembered her birthday only five months before.

Flashback

Hermione's clock went off. She snuck a hand out from beneath her covers and shut it off. Her eyes flew opened, as she knew what this day was. She threw her covers off of her and ran down the stairs to Ginny's room. She threw open the door, ran over to Ginny's bed, threw back her curtains, and jumped on her bed.

"Ginny, wake up!" Hermione said in an excited whisper.

Ginny groaned and said, "Yes, Hermione, I know it's your birthday, but it's also five o'clock in the morning. I have another hour before all the girls go crazy for the shower."

"Yes, but remember my present?" Hermione asked, "And you can always use my shower."

Ginny sighed, threw back her sheets and said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get on with it," Ginny went to her trunk, flung it open, and started to take things out of it. She handed bottles upon bottles to Hermione and then finally shut her trunk, holding combs and other items that Hermione never saw before in her own hands. "Okay, lets go," Ginny said.

Hermiones' eyes widened, "Are we going to use all of this?"

"Yup," was Ginny's only answer and she walked out of her room and up towards Hermione's.

….

Ginny spent close to an hour just on Hermione's hair.

"Merlin, Ginny!" Hermione squealed yet again, "Are we done with my hair?"

Ginny sighed, "Yes, but don't forget, it was you who wanted this done."

"Yes, but I didn't think I'd have to go through so much pain!" Hermione said rubbing her sore head. "Just take a look, is it all red, or bleeding?"

Ginny laughed and said, "Slightly red, you have really thick hair, Hermione," Ginny said as she held up two different nail polish colors and Hermione picked the light red color. Ginny started to paint Hermione's nails when she said, "You know, I'd never expected you to ask for one."

"One what?"

"A make over."

"Why's that?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know. You always struck me for someone who was comfortable with her looks. Weren't you the one who said, 'If a guy can't notice that you're pretty without the straight hair and make-up, then they aren't worth the time,' or something like that."

"This has nothing to do with a boy," Hermione defended herself. Even though a small part was saying, _Yes it does. He said he was going to stop by and see you today. _While a much bigger part of her said, _He's not coming, he probably forget that today was even your birthday. _

"Are you sure that this doesn't have anything to do with my brother?"

"You're brother?" Hermione asked shocked. "Heavens no! I won't even see him today, or I should say that he won't be here. He probably forgot that today was even my birthday!" with the look that Ginny was giving her, she knew that Ginny looked confused, and suddenly she realized why, "Oh, you were talking about Ron, weren't you?"

"Yeah, who were you talking about?" Ginny asked as she saw Hermione bit her lower lip, "You were talking about George, weren't you?" Hermione couldn't even look Ginny in the eyes and played with her necklace that George and Fred bought for her. Ginny gasped and said, "There _is _something going on between the two of you, isn't there?"

"No!" Hermione answered her quickly. "No, I already told you. There is nothing going on between George and me."

"But you want there to be, don't you?" Hermione didn't answer her, "Don't deny it!" Hermione still didn't say anything, "I won't tell anyone, _trust me!"_

Hermione tried to answer her, but no words came out, so she just nodded her head slightly. Ginny squealed and hugged her friend, "Don't get excited, Ginny," Hermione said, "I have it on good account that he has no feelings towards me."

"How could you know?"

"Well, to him I'm _just _Hermione," Ginny opened her mouth about to ask Hermione what that meant when Hermione said, "I'm _just _Hermione. When your father came to find me two days before we left for school I heard him yell at George for not sending me home at a reasonable hour. George said and I state, "Dad, it's just Hermione." Not just Hermione, she's like my sister, or it's just Hermione she's like my friend. I'm _just _Hermione."

"But…"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore. Can you just finish up with me?"

Ginny nodded her head and finished her work in silence.

…

About forty five minutes later, Hermione came walking down the stairs to the Common Room to see Harry and Ron working on their homework.

"Harry, what did you get for number 3?" Ron asked. Hermione cleared her throat and the two boys looked up, "Hermione, great, you're here!"

Harry just starred at her and said, "Whoa, Mione, you look good."

Hermiones' hair was down and for the first time that she could remember it was straight, a little wavy, but still straight. Make-up was apparent on her face and her ears where pierced; another gift from Ginny.

"Yeah, Hermione," Ron said, "You look nice today. What's the occasion?"

"Oh, no occasion, Ginny did it for me as a gift."

The two boys looked at her and then Ron said, "Hermione, could you help us out here?"

"Isn't there anything else you'd like to say?" Hermione asked.

Ron sighed and said, "Hermione, could you _please_ help us out with our homework?"

Hermione looked over at Harry, "Harry?"

"Yeah, Hermione?"

"Don't you even know what day it is today?" Hermione asked getting annoyed.

"Yeah, double potions," Harry answered her.

"Hermione we really can't figure this out!" Ron added, once again talking about his homework.

"Figure it out for yourself!" Hermione screamed at them, picked her bag up, and headed out of the common room.

"What's her problem?" Ron asked.

Ginny, who heard the whole thing, walked over to Ron, smacked him upside the head, and she too walked out of the Common Room.

….

A little while later…

Hermione was sitting in the library looking over her homework when Leanne came and sat next to her. "Happy Birthday, _just, _Hermione."

"Thanks, at least… what did you call me?" Leanne only smiled at her, "Ginny told you, didn't she?"

"Actually, it was Becky Llyod. A fifth year in Hufflepuff."

"Oh, Merlin," Hermione said placing her head in hand.

"Hermione, of course Ginny told me."

"'Trust me' she said!" Hermione exclaimed. "You're not going to tell Fred are you?"

"Hell no!" Leanne exclaimed. "The only reason why Ginny told me was so I could help you snag Georgie up. Just like how I snagged Fred up. The poor boy didn't even see it coming."

"I don't want to snag George," Hermione said. Leanne gave Hermione a skeptical look and Hermione corrected herself, "George doesn't want to be snagged by me," Hermione threw her books into her bag and said, "I don't want to talk about it anymore. I have to go before I'm late for class," with that Hermione left Leanne by herself in the library.

…

Hermione was sitting in the Great Hall with Harry eating lunch when she saw Ron running over to them.

"Harry, do you know who's birthday it is today?"

Hermione smiled and said, "About time you remembered."

Harry shook his head and Ron said, "Hannah Abbots," the two boys looked over to the Hufflepuff table and saw her sitting there with all her friends opening presents. "Merlin, she is hot."

"Yeah, she finally grew up, huh?" Harry said eyeing her one last time before turning around.

"And out," Ron added under his breath still looking at her, "If I remembered earlier that it was her birthday I would have bought something for her," Ron stated.

"Ron, you don't even know her!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I'd get her something so that she's always remember me."

"Oh, Ron!" Hermione cried out, "You are such a prat!" with that Hermione stood up and ran out of the Great Hall.

"What did I do?"

Harry stood up, ready to go after Hermione when Ginny said, "No, I'll go. You two have done enough as it is," with that said Ginny ran after Hermione, but not before she hit Ron upside the head again.

"Why does she keep hitting me in the head for?" Ron asked rubbing his sore head.

"No clue, mate, but better you then I," Harry said shoving another forkful of food into his mouth.

…

"Hermione!" Ginny called after her, but Hermione didn't stop running.

As Hermione turned the corner, she bumped into someone, not taking note of his apology, or even stopping to see who it was, she just kept on running. She didn't know where she was going, but apparently her feet did.

Ginny came around the corner and saw Hermione run into George, and then watched as she ran off again. "George, why didn't you stop her?"

"Who was that?" George asked.

"Hermione!"

George opened his mouth to say something when he remembered that she was crying. Without even saying a word he turned around and ran after her. "Mione!" George called after her, but noticed that she ran into the girl's bathroom. George sighed, took a moment, and then ran into the bathroom too.

"A boy in the girl's bathroom! Get out!" came a piercing voice.

"Hi, Myrtle," George said.

"Ah, one of the Weasley twins," Myrtle said smiling, "Look how handsome you got," she said floating around him.

A cold chill ran down Georges' back as he remembered the day when Myrtle haunted the boys' locker room one day after a Quidditch game.

"Ah, thanks Myrtle, you look just like I remembered you," without even taking a breath he said, "Did you see a girl come in here?"

"Mmm… yes," Myrtle said with a smile, "Harry Potter's friend. She's so upset," Myrtle said in a sarcastic sad tone.

George could hear Hermione crying and said, "Myrtle, can we have a moment. Hermione and I, I mean."

"Why should I leave?" Myrtle said getting upset.

"Just give us a few minutes!" George said not even asking this time.

Myrtle gasped, "You're meaner then…"

"Beat it!" George practically screamed at her.

Myrtle screamed out of distress and flew into one of the toilets making it explode, having water fly everywhere. George had to run out of the way in order to avoid getting hit.

"Hermione?" George called out for her as he opened the door to the stall that she was in.

"Go away, George," Hermione yelled at him, still crying.

"No, now get out here," when Hermione didn't move an inch George grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her out of the stall and enveloped her into a tight hug. "Now tell me," George said as he still held her against his chest, "what did you do to yourself?"

"I just wanted to look nice for once," Hermione mumbled against his robes.

"But you already do look nice. In fact," George said leaning near her ear, "You're mighty pretty."

Hermione pushed him away and said, "George, stop saying that! If it's so true then how come today was the first day since the night of the Yule Ball when I've seen anyone give me a double take. Ron didn't notice, and it was Harry who commented, but it still felt nice. They always see me as one of the guys, never as a girl, and I'm getting sick and tired of it!"

"Well, apparently you've never seen me stare at you," George said seriously, but Hermione only laughed, as though he just told her a joke. George let it drop and asked, "So, tell me, what happened to get you into this state?" Hermione opened her mouth to say something when George said, "Did Ron forget your birthday?"

"And Harry, but that's not the worst part. Ron remembered that it was Hannah Abbot's birthday, but not mine."

"Who?"

"Exactly, she's just one of those girls in our year, in a different house, who apparently finally got pretty," Hermione looked in the mirror and saw that her mascara was smeared forming black circles around her eyes and streaks down her face. "Oh, Merlin, look at me! I look like a raccoon."

George walked over to her, parted his robes, and turned on the water faucets. Surprised that there was still running water in these pipes he lifted the bottom of his robes and wetted them with water. He grabbed Hermione's head to keep her in position and started to wipe at her eyes.

"George," Hermione started to protest.

"Shush," George said and continued to wipe the rest of her face clean from all traces of make-up. "You give my little brother too much credit. He wasn't born with the same charm and compassion as the rest of us Weasley boys. It sort of skipped over Percy and Ron," Hermione let out a small laugh, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not making excuses for him for forgetting your birthday, but I'm just letting you know what's wrong with him," Hermione let out an even louder laugh. "I mean, he even treats Ginny as a brother, until it comes to her having a boyfriend. I bet if this Hannah girl was Ron's friend instead of you, he would have forgotten her birthday too."

"Very doubtful."

George ignored her and said, "So, here's my advice, if you want him to remember your birthday, you have to tell him."

"I did, yesterday," Hermione told him.

"Bastard!" George called his own brother. After taking a moment to pause he said, "And if you want him to notice you… well, you're just going to have to grab him by his shirt collar and kiss him," Hermione gasped at George's words and was amazed to notice that the thought of being so forceful with him did not bring pleasant feelings to her. George moved his robes away from her face and said, "We're not done yet, though." George walked behind her, gathered all her hair up to the top of her head, and messed it up.

"George, do you know how long it took Ginny to make my hair look like this?"

"Ask me if I care."

"Do you care?" Hermione asked.

"Nope," George said as he repeated his on slaughter to her hair a few more times. George turned Hermione around, so she was facing him, moved a few stray strands out from the front of her face, and said, "Now there's my Mione." George watched as Hermione blushed slightly and then bit at her bottom lip. He turned her around so she was looking in the mirror and heard her gasp.

"George, I look like the same old me."

"Exactly," George said as he kissed the top of her head and said, "Perfect."

"Only you, George Weasley, thinks that I'm pretty looking like this."

George turned Hermione around once more so that she was facing him again, and said, "No, not pretty, Mione, beautiful," he didn't give her a chance to respond as he grabbed her arm and started to drag her behind him.

"Where are you taking me?"

George stopped walking, turned towards her, and said, "I've come to steal you away for your birthday."

"Yeah, well, I have classes…" Hermione said as she thought for a moment, "now in fact! I'm late for classes!"

"Oh well," George said as he continued to drag her down the hallways.

As they made one final turn they saw Dumbledore walking down the same hallway towards them.

"Well, hello, Mr. Weasley. How are you doing?"

George stopped walking, "Headmaster Dumbledore, it's good to see you again," George said shaking the older mans' hand. "Doing well, actually."

"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore nodded his head at her, "have fun," he said with a smile and continued to walk down the hallway.

"Oh my, did you hear what he said?" she said as George continued to drag her behind him, "It was like he was telling me to have fun now because I'll be paying for it later."

"Or maybe he was saying it because he meant it," George said, "He knows what we're up to."

"What, do you really think so? What _are_ we up to?" Hermione asked.

"Dumbledore knows everything," George said to her and didn't answer her second question.

As George opened the doors to the grounds Hermione had to put a hand up to her eyes to shield out the bright sun.

Soon George stopped walking, "Hold on to me now," he told her.

Hermione wrapped her arms around George and held on tight. She felt George wrap his arms around her too and waited for the pull of being apparating tug at her. When she didn't feel it she turned her head up to George, "George?" he gave her a soft, 'mmm' as his only respond, "Aren't we apparating?"

George looked confused and said, "No, why would you think that?"

"Well, then why are we holding each other?"

"Hm? Oh, I just missed you touching me," George said with a smile and laid his head on top of hers.

"George!"

"Just kidding, Mione, hold on."

This time Hermione did feel the pull of being apparating and before too long she felt her feet hit solid ground.

"There's the birthday girl!" Hermione heard a familiar voice.

Hermione pulled away from George and saw Tom. Hermione starred at George for a moment. _He pulled me out of school to take me to the Leaky Cauldron_, Hermione was not happy, "Hi, Tom," Hermione responded.

"Hermione, Happy Birthday!" This time it was her friend Katy.

"Thanks, Katy," Hermione said hugging her friend.

Katy tugged on Hermiones arm so they could sit and talk when George said, "Don't get comfy, Mione, we aren't staying long."

"Oh, okay," Hermione said wondering where they were going.

"Here you go, mate," Tom said handing George a basket.

"Thanks, Tom, I do appreciate all the extras today. How much do I owe you?"

"It's on me. Think of it as a birthday present."

"Thanks again," George looked over at Hermione and smiled. He really thought that he would have a hard time getting Hermione to skip all her afternoon classes, but she went almost willingly.

"So, going to pop the question soon?" Tom asked.

"Wh-what?" George asked between being horrified and shocked. _I can't be married at 18! I'm still enjoying the life of a bachelor. _George looked back at Hermione and saw her smiling and laughing with Katy fingering her necklace that he bought her just last month. _Married to Hermione, though, may not be that bad._ He couldn't believe what his head was saying to him. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and said to Tom, "I haven't even known her that long! Besides that she's 16!"

"So, I asked the misses to marry me when I was 16 and I've known he for a lot less time then the two of you."

"Tom, things don't work that way anymore."

"Kiddo, when you find true love, you don't wait for it to work."

"L-love," George stammered out. How could this man make him feel like this twice in only a few moments, "We're not in love, Tom."

"No?" Tom asked skeptical. "Just look at the way she looks at you," George turned his head and followed Tom's gaze. George saw that she was looking at him while Katy was talking a mile a minute. He saw her bite her lower lip and blush slightly as she was caught looking at him, though, instead of breaking eye contact she smiled at him and waved. He smiled and waved back at her. George didn't break the eye contact until he heard Tom talking to him again, "The misses used to look at me like that, still does actually. Something about those eyes, especially the brown ones. They seem to be able to look into your soul and melt your insides, eh?" George looked from Tom to Hermione and felt something all right, but it wasn't a melting sensation. It was more of a flip flop feeling, as though some professional cook was flipping his insides like pancakes.

He saw Hermione walking towards him and was thankful for it. At least now he didn't have to hear some other man tell him what he felt.

"You ready to go?" George asked her.

"Yeah, where are we going?"

"You'll see," he handed Hermione the basket and she took it in one of her hands, "Hold on," he whispered into her ear. Hermione did so and felt the pull of apparating again.

A few moments later she felt the ground soft under her feet and heard water splashing around them. She looked around and saw a beach with a white clean sandy shore.

"Where are we?" Hermione asked.

"The beach," George answered.

"How did you find this place?" Hermione asked as she put the basket down, opened it, and took out a blanket. George took one end of the blanket it helped her spread it out on the sand.

"Oh, um, when I first got my apparition license I tried to get home," George said as he took his robes off and sat down on the blanket. He took his tie off, and said, "and I ended up here instead," George took his shoes and socks off and then proceeded to roll his pant legs up, "I wasn't that far off. The Burrow is about a half of day walk that way," George said pointing in one direction. George wiggled his toes in the soft sand, looked up at Hermione, and said, "Are you going to sit, too? You know I don't mind eating all the food myself."

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Hermione said as she removed her robes and sat beside George. She kicked off her shoes and rolled her knee-high socks off.

George smiled at Hermione as he watched her bury her feet into the sand and then slowly resurface them allowing the sand to slowly fall from her feet. He dug around in the basket until he pulled out two butter beers. He popped the tops of both of them and handed one to Hermione.

Hermione lifted her bottle towards his and said, "To friends."

He clinked his bottle against hers and said, "To many more birthdays," Hermione clinked her bottle against his and they both took a long sip.

George put his butter beer down and took out a cake.

"A cake?" Hermione asked.

"Ah, yeah. I just assumed you already ate, so I just got the cake."

"Oh, no that's fine. It's just that it's been a while since I had a birthday cake."

George smiled and pulled out a packet of candles. He arranged 16 candles on the cake and used his wand to light them all. "Okay, blow them out."

"What," Hermione said with sad eyes, "You aren't going to sing to me?"

"Oh, Mione, don't do that," George said as he looked into her big brown eyes. Hermione even went as far as pouting her lips. George sighed and said, "Fine," he cleared his throat and sang to her. As he finished she clapped and laughed happily as he muttered, "Now blow out the bloody candles and lets eat," Hermione did as she was told and cut out two pieces of the cake.

The two ate in silence.

George quickly finished his cake and said, "I have something for you," he reached into the basket and pulled out a neatly wrapped present.

Hermione put her unfinished cake down and took the present from Georges' outstretched hands, "Thanks, George," she said as she began to open the present. "The complete works of William Shakespeare," Hermione looked strangely at it and then knocked on it. "George," Hermione said sounding confused, "It's made of wood."

"Oh, I know. It's one of those books that hide things in them. It looks like a real book, but when you open them there's something inside it."

"Oh," Hermione said as she nodded her head as she understood his meaning. She opened the book up and was surprised to see that there was something in it. "What's this?" Hermione moved the tissue paper, which lined the whole inside of the fake book, and gasped as she pulled out another book, "George… it's… it's…"

"It's one of the 1st editions from 1694. It was the first time that "Romeo and Juliet" was massed produced," George watched as Hermione said nothing and only looked up from the book to himself. Then it dawned on him, "It's the wrong one, isn't it? "Hamlet" was your favorite, wasn't it?"

"No, no, you got it right…"

"Then what's the problem. I know it's not in best condition, but if you take care of it, and I know you will, it'll last for quiet a while."

"No, it's just that, George, I can't accept this."

"What, why not?" George asked.

"Do you know how much a 1st edition of anyone of Shakespeare's plays cost?"

"Roughly about three-quarters of a million American dollars," George answered her.

"Wha… Okay, I didn't think it was _that _much. What could you have been thinking when you got this? How could you have possibly gotten this? How could you have possibly paid for this?"

"I thought that, when I found it, that you would like it. I got this by finding it on a shelf in Muggle London, and I paid for it in cash," Hermione eyed him, "Look, Hermione, I was in Muggle London one day about two weeks back and I walked by a book shop. I stopped in and asked about your "Romeo and Juliet" book. The one they had was really shabby, so I asked around for a good condition copy of the book. Each book seller sent me somewhere different and it took me about ten days to track that book down. The book seller apparently didn't know what he had. True I had to pay a bit more for that book then for a normal book, but I didn't go broke on it," George said, "After I bought it I had it looked over and they told me the worth of that book. I didn't pay nearly as much as what it's really worth," George sighed and Hermione could tell that he was getting upset, "But if you are going to be ungrateful about it, I'll take it back," he said holding his hand out.

Despite the anger in his tone, she heard a lot of hurt in it too, "No," Hermione said, "I am grateful. Very grateful. I just… I never received such an extravagant gift. I just didn't know how to react."

"A thank you is usually a good reaction. A hug is good too, then there's a kiss, which could be better, and if you're really grateful…" George didn't finish his sentence, he just smiled wickedly at her and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Don't push your luck boy," Hermione said as she placed the book back into the secret box. She got onto her knees, gave his a quick peck on the lips and then threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, "Thank you," she said as she backed away and gave him a kiss on the check for good measure. "What were you doing in Muggle London?"

"Eh, just a day trip really," George said shrugging his shoulders, "Though you know, Muggle money, I think I recall them call it Pounds, not Galleons like we do, is worth a lot more then our money. Seriously, I think that once you get out of Hogwarts we live in Muggle London, it would be a hell of a lot cheaper," George smiled at her, "What do you think?"

Hermione smiled at George's little joke and said, "Sounds like a plan," and with that said she started to clean everything up and put the items back into the basket.

"What are you doing?" George asked.

"Getting ready to go back," Hermione answered him as though the answer should be clear as day.

"I think not, Ms. Granger," George said as he grabbed her wrists to stop her. When she did stop and look at him he released her and said, "It's only two o'clock in the afternoon. I have the rest of the day off and frankly my dear, you are mine for the rest of the night," George stood up, brushed the back of his pants off, and held his hands out for her, "Lets take a walk."

"Okay," Hermione said as she took his offered hands and stood up, then smoothed out her skirt.

The two walked hand-in-hand along the shore line of the beach, allowing the water to dance around their feet. As they walked, George listened to Hermione as she talked about the new Potions teacher.

After a few more minutes George stopped walking and said, "Hey, Mione," Hermione turned to look at him and jumped as he practically threw a crab in her face, "Know what one of these things are?"

Of course Hermione knew what a crab was, she actually had a pet crab when she was a child, but she wasn't about to tell that to George. She wanted to know what he'd do if she acted like a regular girl and squealed. "George," Hermione said shaking her voice as though she was frightened by the water creature, "Get that away from me! They bite!" George smiled and dangled it closer to her. Hermione let out a small scream and ran away. She turned her head and watched as George carefully put the creature back into the sand and ran after her. She let out a scream, but this time with more laughter behind it and continued to run away from him. "George, no!"

Though, running away from him was futile, Georges' longer legs allowed him to catch up with her in no time. He threw his arms around her waist and hoisted her up against him. She let out a happy squeal as she put her hands tenderly on his arms.

"I caught you, Granger," George said in her ear.

"So, you did. Now, that you have me, what do you plan to do with me?" Hermione said in what she hoped was a flirtatious tone.

"Mmm, I have a few things in mind, but for now," George quickly swept her up into his arms and started to walk towards the water, "I think we should go for a little swim."

"No!" Hermione squealed and wiggled in his arms.

"If you keep wiggling like this I'm likely to drop you."

Hermione stopped wiggling and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. She noticed that the water was already just below his hips, "Please," Hermione begged, "Don't throw me into the water," George opened his mouth to say something when Hermione added, "Or drop me! Please?" Hermione said practically begging again.

George sighed and said, "Fine. God, Mione, you took the fun out of that. Though I must say, I enjoyed the begging immensely," George turned around to walk back to the sandy shore, though he turned to quickly and lost his footing. George fell backwards with Hermione on top of him.

Hermione emerged from the water first and she silently cursed him. "George Weasley!" She removed her hair from the front of her eyes and looked around for him, but didn't see him. "George!" Hermione called for him, but still didn't see him, "George!" She felt something grab at her legs, she let out a piercing scream as whatever it was pulled her under. Hermione quickly resurfaced and saw George laughing.

"George!" Hermione yelled at him.

"Sorry, Mione, I slipped!"

"Yeah, whatever," Hermione said as she shoved him, making him fall, once again, into the water. She giggled as she watched him emerge from the water and Hermione messed his hair up, making it stand up in every which way.

"Happy now?" George asked.

"Yes."

The two walked out of the water and back to their blanket on the sand. Hermione went to her robes and pulled out her wand. She turned the wand to herself and said a quick drying spell, she then did the same to George. "Ugh, look at us. Our clothes are all wrinkly. Great, more work for those poor house elves to do."

George sighed, sat down on the blanket, transformed the basket into a rather large, fluffy pillow, and leaned back against it. He sat there listening to Hermione complain about house elves. He sighed, again, leaned forward, grabbed a hold of Hermione's arm, and dragged Hermione down to sit between his legs. George smiled, _That shut her up. _George took "Romeo and Juliet" out of its' box, leaned back against the pillow, and pulled Hermione against his chest.

"What are you doing?"

"I've never read "Romeo and Juliet"," he said as he opened the book in front of them. "So, I figured if I read it with you, you could explain it to me if I don't understand something."

"Okay," Hermione said excitedly.

George cleared his throat and started to read the play, "Two households both alike in dignity In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…" Hermione relaxed against Georges' chest and enjoyed listening to him reading to her. She laughed a little as he gave each character his or her own voice, but when it came to Juliet's lines she read them, almost as if she read them by heart.

Then it came to one of Hermione's favorite scenes. "Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love And I'll no longer be a Capulet," Hermione read it with such passion that George had to bite his lip from laughing.

"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?" George read with just as much passion. He laughed and said, "Are you serious? Did people actually speak like this?"

"Stop it, you're ruining the story."

George laughed again and said, "Hermione, this is too fluffy, even for you."

"Well, George," Hermione said, "I enjoy a good romance book as much as the next girl. Not everyone knows all of my sides yet."

"And I enjoy figuring them all out," he said. "Your turn."

Hermione looked back down at the book and continued to read.

As they came to the end of the book George could hear the tears in her voice and then he read the last sentence, "For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet…"

"And her Romeo," Hermione finished as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Oh, I so do love that book."

"Why, I mean it's so sad and it makes you cry?"

"It's all about true love. They would rather die then live without each other," Hermione looked sad suddenly, "Just think by the time Juliet was 16, she found her one true love, got married, had sex," Hermione said without even meaning too. Though when she heard herself say it, she bit her lower lip and blushed.

"Yeah and she died," George added.

"I know, but I'm 16, and I've done nothing! I haven't even been outside of London. Well, I mean, I've been to Switzerland when my parents sent me to boarding school, but I was too young to enjoy it."

"What do you mean you've done nothing? You helped Harry find the sorcerers stone, you helped find out the truth behind the Chamber of Secrets, you helped save a magical creature from dying and a innocent man from going back to Azkaban. If it wasn't for you, Harry wouldn't have lived through his first Tri-Wizard task…"

Hermione stopped him, "Great, I'll go down in history as Harry Potter's smart friend."

"Fine," George huffed, "If all that matters to you is true love, marriage, and sex, well, we have all night," Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but George beat her to it, "I can help you complete one of the three tasks right now, we'll work on the second one, and eventually complete the third one."

"I don't even want to know which order you were going in," Hermione said, with a smile, "but no thanks, just the same. And just so you know those three things aren't just the only important things in the world. I just don't want to be remember as only the brainy one."

George wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight. He leaned his head down near hers and said, "You won't, Mione. You're destined to do great things. Besides that, you'll find him one day."

"You really think so?" Hermione asked with a smile.

"Sure, and if you don't there's always us Weasley boys. There's six of us and only one of you. You're destined to end up with one of us," George said with a smiled.

Hermione didn't even reply to his statement, she really didn't know how to. She gasped and said, "Oh, look at the sunset. A sailors delight, is what we call it," Hermione said, "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"

George turned to look at her and said, "Yes," simple as that.

Hermione turned to look at him and noticed that he was looking at her; calling her beautiful. Her breath got caught in her throat when she felt his arms around her waist tighten and leaned closer to her. She felt his lips lie gently against hers as she raised her hand up to his neck to pull him closer to her and deepen the kiss. George laid back taking her with him and somehow managed to straighten Hermione out, because the next thing she knew she was lying on top of him. Her hands were running wildly through his thick red mane as his hands seemed to be everywhere, on her back, grasping her hips, and he even went as far as place his palms on her bum and caressed it tenderly. Hermione groaned loudly, though the sound was muffled by Georges' lips still on hers, and without really knowing what she was doing, she grinded her hips against his.

George threw his head back, breaking the kiss, and took in a sharp breath. For a second Hermione thought that she hurt him, but then heard him say, "Oh, God, Mione," in a breathy tone that made her smile. Mustering up her Gryffindor courage she placed a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth, followed by one on his chin, which she could feel his five o'clock shadow taking effect. Hermione then bent her head down and placed a simple kiss on his adam's apple, and then grazed her teeth against it gently.

"Oh, God, Mione," Hermione heard him say again. Though this time she noted that his tone was different. No longer was it a _Oh, God, Mione, do that again, _this time it was a _Oh, God, Mione, what the hell are we doing? _The two quickly scrambled away from each other still breathing heavily.

"Oh, God, Mione," George said, "I'm so..."

"No, don't say it, please?" Hermione asked.

"Say what?"

"That you're sorry that you kissed me. That you regret doing that," Hermione said in a whisper, not even able to look him in the face.

George placed his hand under her chin and raise it her head. He looked into her eyes and said, "I'd never regret kissing you, Mione," Hermione smiled slightly, "It's just that… I mean…" suddenly the small smile that was plastered against her face turned quickly into a frown, "I just…"

"No," Hermione said cutting him off again, "No excuses, I don't want to hear any excuses. Can't we just tell each other that we got caught up in the moment and not tell anyone what happened?"

"Okay," George answered a little too quickly and suddenly regretted saying that so fast. "I mean, I think that'll be a good idea."

"Yeah, so I thought," Hermione said as she turned the pillow back into the basket that it once was and she started to pack everything back into the basket. When she finished and stood back up, George handed her her present and she handed him the basket. In an awkward silence, Hermione, gently placed her arms around George and felt as the apparition took effect once again.

As they hit solid ground again, George said, "I'll walk you back."

"That's not necessary," Hermione protested.

"Necessary or not, I want to walk you back," George took her hand into his and walked back towards Hogwarts. Hermione smiled and the two fell back into a comfortable conversation.

George walked Hermione all the way back into Gryffindor common room surprised that it was empty.

Hermione turned towards George and said, "Thanks for a great birthday."

George took Hermione's hand, bowed down every so slightly, and said, "Your welcome, mi lady," as he placed a gentle kiss against her knuckles.

"Oy, George!" came a voice from the entrance of the common room. Hermione and George looked up and saw that it was Ron with Harry. "Where have you two been?" Ron asked as he took a good look at them. Both of their clothes were all wrinkly and their hair all messed up because of their "swim" and their previous encounter. "Merlin, Hermione, you look a mess!"

"We went for a little swim, lil' brother," George said.

Ron crossed his arms over his chest and looked at George, "So, does Katie know about the two of you?"

"You mean Katy from the Leaky Cauldron?" Hermione asked, "Well, yes, she does."

"No, I mean Katie as in Katie Bell," Ron answered her.

"Katie Bell?" Hermione asked confused, "What does she have to do with any of this?"

"Oh, didn't George tell you?" Ron asked.

"Ron," Harry said in a warning tone.

"Katie and George are going out?" Ron finished as he ignored Harry's warning.

Hermione took in a sharp in take of breath and closed her eyes trying to stop the tears from falling. After taking a few seconds to get a hold of herself and muck up some courage to face George, she turned towards him, and said, "A girlfriend, huh?"

George was quiet shocked at Hermione's reaction to all this. He opened his mouth and said, "I tried to tell you…" George saw the change in Hermione's face. "I… you're going to hit me against the head with the book, aren't you?"

Hermione frightened everyone, just a little, as she threw her head back and laughed, "Oh, George, I still haven't seemed to understand why you think I'm so violent. Of course I'm not going to hit you against the head with the book," _A good swift kick would be nicer _Hermione heard herself think. "But it's about time that you got yourself a girlfriend. Though, a word to the wise," Hermione said, "don't bring her around the Leaky Cauldron. Tom will have a fit!" she turned to the boys and said, "Night all," and Hermione ran up the stairs as fast as she could.

As soon as Hermione was out of ear reach, or so George thought. In reality Hermione hid behind the curve in the stairs so that the boys could not see her.

"What the hell is your problem?" George yelled at Ron,

"Oh, so sorry that I let out your little secret. You can't have them both, George!" Ron yelled back. "You come to Hogwarts, have her skip her classes, and then have her return like… like…"

"Like what?"

"Like you snogged the hell out of her!" Ron claimed.

George rolled his eyes and said, "I just want to beat you to a bloody pulp right now," George ran his hands through his hair to try to calm himself down and said, "It's just Hermione," George said. Hermione gasped as she heard him refer to her as _just _Hermione again. She couldn't take it, she ran all the way back to her room, this time not caring if anyone saw her cry.

"I don't want both of them," George continued. In fact he didn't want either of them. _You want one of them, _his brain told him, _that's more then clear enough, _"I came to Hogwarts, had Hermione skip her classes because today is her birthday, and I took her out! We look like this because I took her to a beach and we went into the water."

Ron opened his mouth again when Ginny came running down the stairs, "What is going on down here?" All three boys looked up at Ginny, "I come out of my room and see Hermione run up the stairs and lock herself in the room."

"See, look what you have done!" Ron blamed George, pointing a finger at him.

"Me, are you sure it wasn't you? And it wasn't just you, it was Harry too."

For the first time Harry added to the conversation, "I didn't do anything!"

"Exactly, instead of being Hermione's friend and telling her that you two were worried sick of where she was you yell at her for not being in class. To top it off, you two do know that today was her birthday, right?"

"I told you it was today," Harry said, "but you didn't want to believe me."

Ron opened his mouth up to say something when George said, "It doesn't matter, you two should of remembered, I'm sure she told you two yesterday." George took a moment to let it all sink in and then added, "And you two call yourselves her best friends. Some friends you are. I'm sure she never forgot anyone of your birthdays." George turned to Ginny and gave her a kiss on her forehead, "Take care of her, will you? I think I must of messed up today too." Ginny only nodded, "Well, I am off," and with that said George left the tower.

Ginny looked at both boys and said to them, "Arses!" and she ran back up the stairs. She went up to Hermione's room and knocked on the door, "Hermione, open up, it's me, Ginny."

Hermione opened the door just a few moments later, already in her pajamas, "Hey Ginny," Hermione said with a fake smile.

"Don't try to pretend that you weren't crying," Hermione opened her mouth to say something, no doubt to protest, but Ginny cut her off, "Hermione, you're eyes are all red."

"I had something in them."

"Yeah, like tears."

Hermione ignored Ginny and walked into the room and sat in one of her chairs, "Did you know about Katie and George?"

"No," Ginny said, "Don't you think I'd tell you?"

"No, with everything that's been going on, I'd expect you to tell Leanne and try to break the two of them up."

"How could you think such a thing?" Ginny gasped and then added, "Do you want us to do it?"

"No!" Hermione said. Hermione put her head in her hands and started to cry, "I'm just so confused. Things happen between us and I'm _just _Hermione. Things get a little heavier and he has a girlfriend. I feel… used, really."

Ginny hugged her friend and then said, "How much heavier?"

Hermione let out a little laugh and told Ginny what went on that day.

The next morning…

Hermione makes it down to the Great Hall before the boys even do and was greeted by Leanne.

"Morning, Mione."

"Oh, morning, Leanne," Hermione responded.

Leanne took a seat next to Hermione and said, "So, George kissed you last night, huh?"

Hermione sighed and said, "I'm going to have to tape her mouth shut."

Leanne looked confused and asked, "Who?"

"Ginny. She is the one that told you, right?"

"No, I didn't even see Ginny yet today."

"Then who told you."

"Fred did."

"Fred who?" Hermione asked.

"Fred, as in the twin Fred."

"How would he know what happened yesterday?"

"Are you really that dense?" Hermione didn't answer the question, "Fred is George's brother, those two boys tell each other everything." Hermione put her head in her hands, "And according to Fred, George was kicking himself in the arse."

"Great, not what I wanted to know," Hermione complained, "He regrets what happened last night?"

Leanne shook her head, "He regrets accepting Katie's invitation to lunch on Saturday at Hogsmeade."

"_She _asked George out?"

"That's all one has to do," Leanne said.

Hermione knew that tone in her voice and said, "If I asked him out, he would of said no, and it would of ruined our friendship."

"If you say so."

Suddenly Harry and Ron came into the Great Hall carrying in presents.

"We're sorry we forgot your birthday yesterday, we really thought that it was today," Ron said.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione said as she got up and walked out of the Great Hall.

End of Flashback

"Morning, Mione," Hermione heard someone talking to her.

"Morning, Harry," Hermione said and greeted the others as they too sat down and started to eat. Hermione, on the other hand, put her book away and took out her homework to look over.

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Woo... chapter 3 already up, and it's not in Flashback! Thanks for the review guys! I hope you continue to Enjoy!

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A few moments later…

People were filing into the Great Hall to eat their breakfast and enjoy some time with their friends before classes start. Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table with Harry and Ron on either side of her. The two boys were eating their breakfast as she had her books out on the table making some last minute corrections on her homework. Hermione didn't even lift her head when she heard the owls coming in giving the students their morning mail. She didn't even flinch when she heard Ginny screech at the flowers that Harry had created especially for her; emerald green roses with red steams, or when Lavender, who was still together with Ron, leaned over and kissed him for the two roses and box of chocolates that she received.

Valentine's Day was just like any other day for Hermione, except this was the day where couples expressed their love for one another, she had never been a part of this day, and a small part of her feared that she never would. For the past five years she kept looking for an owl to land next to her and hand her a flower or some kind of chocolate treat, but the owl never came. She got sick and tired of hearing, "Well, we never thought that you would like something like that, so we never thought of it. If it really means that much to you, there's always next year", from Ron and Harry every time that they found out that she was upset that she never got a single flower for the day, so she dropped the whole thing after her fourth year.

Now, it being her sixth year, she still had no one special to spend the day with, she couldn't even spend it with her friends, for both Ginny and Harry, and Ron and Lavender all had something special planed for the evening.

She had imagine, since the first day of classes, that year, that this would be the year she and Ron would get together and she would finally have someone to spend this day with. Though, that thought was ruined the day she caught Ron and Lavender snogging in the closet back in the beginning of January. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she remembered every having feelings for him. Doing so made ink drop from her quill and land in the middle of her scroll.

"Great," she said as she took her wand out and cleaned it with a spell. She was so engrossed with her homework that she nearly screamed as she heard an owl screech at her. Hermione looked up and saw a gorgeous ebony owl, with the blackest eyes she had ever seen, standing before her with a rose in its claw, holding it out to her. Hermione looked shocked and then took the rose from the owl's stretched out claw and watched as it flew away. Hermione smiled and thought to herself that one of her two friends' remembered her this day.

Hermione was about to turn towards Harry and ask him if he knew who got it for her when she heard Ginny exclaim, "Look, Hermione got a rose!"

Harry, Ron, and Lavender all turned and looked at her when Ron said, "About time that you get a Valentine, Hermione."

Hermione froze for a second and asked, "You mean you didn't send this to me?" Ron shook his head as he took a sip of his pumpkin juice. Hermione turned towards Harry and he shook his head too.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something when Lavender grabbed Ron's hand, giggled, and said, "Come on Ron, we have to do some last minute studying for our Potions test."

"Talking about class, I left some of my books in Gryffindor," Ginny said as she stood, "Harry, will you walk with me."

"You know I will," Harry said with a smile, but before he left he turned towards Hermione and said, "Happy Valentine's Day, Hermione."

"Yeah, you too," Hermione responded, but he didn't hear it, for Harry was already running after his girlfriend.

A thought crossed Hermione's mind and she almost cried. What if this rose wasn't for her? What if the owl made a mistake? It wouldn't be the first time. Then suddenly she saw a thin rolled piece of parchment attached to the steam of the rose. She unraveled it and read, "To My Mione."

Before she got a chance to even think of anyone who called her 'Mione' she felt someone sit on either side of her and simultaneously kiss her on either cheek.

She looked up and saw the Weasley twins, "Fred!" she exclaimed and gave the older boy a kiss on his cheek, and then turned to the other, "George!" and did the same, "What are you two doing here?"

George lent down and whispered in her ear, "Dumbledore sent for us, had an important meeting."

As the two boys saw Hermione's eyes widen with interest, Fred laughed and said, "Yeah, he needed a rush delivery of Canary Creams."

The look in Hermione's eyes changed from interested to confused in mere seconds. "What would he need that for?" she asked.

"We don't ask Hermione, we only deliver," Fred stated.

George smiled and said, "Maybe he'll give it to Snape," As the three of them pictured in their heads how Snape would look as a bird they all started to laugh. "Besides that," George said, "Fred had to come and see Leanne, it is Valentine's Day after all."

"Yeah," Hermione smiled and looked down at her flower.

"Oy, George, looks like our Hermione got herself a Valentine." Fred said as he took the flower from her hands. Hermione jumped and tried to grab it back, but he passed it over to George.

Hermione sat giving Fred an evil glare and nearly jumped out of her seat as she felt the cool rose petals slide across her neck. She turned and looked at George, who held the rose between his thumb and forefinger, twirling it and asked, "So, who's the lucky bloke?"

Hermione shrugged and said, "It didn't say."

George looked at the rolled up parchment and read it, "To my Mione."

Fred laughed and said, "Well, it looks like she's not just ours anymore. We're gonna have to _share_ you now."

Hermione's cheeks went pink and thought for a moment if George told him what she said only a few months ago.

Suddenly Leanne came over, "Morning, Mione," she greeted.

"Morning Leanne."

Leanne turned to Fred and said, "Are you going to walk me to my class, or just sit here for the rest of the day?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Fred said trying to sound as though Leanne was making him do something that he didn't want to do, but Hermione knew that it was no hard task for him. "See ya later Mione," Fred said as he grabbed his girlfriends' books with one hand and held her hand with his other. Hermione turned around and watched as the happy couple walked away. Before she could turn back around she watched as Fred brought his girlfriends' hand up to his lips and place a gentle kiss against her knuckles. Hermione let out a sigh, somewhere between a 'aw, how sweet,' and 'I'm so jealous!'. She jumped again when she felt the cool soft touch of rose petals slide across her skin once more.

"Someone is jealous," George stated in almost a sing-song voice.

She rolled her eyes and smacked him on his arm, "Oh stop it! I am not!" She started to gather up her stuff and then sighed in frustration, "Is it so bad to want to have a boyfriend? Someone to hold _my _hand, carry _my _books, love me?" Hermione added that last one in with a whisper so low that even though she barely heard herself say it, George defiantly knew what the words were.

George placed one of his fingers under Hermione's chin and lifted her head until she was looking into his eyes, "No, it's not." George said close enough to Hermione's face, that she could smell his minty breath. Before Hermione even knew what was going on, George sat back up and handed Hermione the rose that he was still holding, "Besides, someone sent you a flower. Has to mean something, right?" George said trying to raise her spirits.

"No," Hermione said as she stood, gathering her books, "All it means is that either its one of the Gryffindor boys who have decided to be nice this year, or worse," she said taking the flower from Georges' hand, "One of the Slytherins sent it to me, trying to see how I'd react."

George stood, grabbed the books from her hands and said, "Have some hope, Mione. Have some hope." George wrapped his arm around Hermione and walked out of the Great Hall with her.

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: So sorry that it took me almost a month to write this up. It just took me a long time before I could write something that I liked. Warnings: Hermione becomes friends with Charlie, but in no way is this one of those love triangles type of stories. Another thing, Hermione should have been 17 not 16 in this story because of her birthday is in September, which meant that she had to turn 12 while in her first year. So sorry about that!  And to answer one question to Jess5674 Fred could have told Leanne about Katie, but as noted, Hermione never asked Leanne if she knew about Katie and George, so she _could _have known about it.

Just had to add, I am adding in more of Shakespeare's quotes from "Romeo and Juliet" none of that is mine.

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Hermione sat in Potions listening to Professor Slughorn's lesson, but her mind kept on fading back and forth from class to the rose that was sitting on her desk. She went through all the possible people that call her "Mione". There was Harry, Ron, George, and Fred. Of course there was Leanne and Katy, too, but she doubt that they would send it to "My Mione" or at least she hoped that they wouldn't. Though, she then remembered that Charlie called her 'Mione' a few times during the Christmas season. Hermione figured that she could cross Ron and Harry off the list because they both denied sending her the rose. Maybe it was one of the twins she concluded. _You mean maybe it was from George _her mind corrected her, but she knew that it couldn't have been from George; not what happened at Christmas time at the Burrow. 

Flashback

It was a few days into their Christmas break. Every Weasley boy was home this year, yes that even included Charlie and Bill; though, Percy wasn't home, he rarely ever associated with his family anymore. Harry was there and Hermione was asked to stay after she got a note from her parents telling her that they were off to France until after the New Year.

Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all sitting around in the living room when Ginny stood the doorway between the family room and the kitchen calling for Harry.

Harry lifted his head from the game of chess he was playing with Ron and ran over to his newfound girlfriend.

Hermione still recalled that day not too long ago when Harry won the Quidditch game, came into the Gryffindor common room, and just kissed Ginny. Surprisingly to both Harry and Hermione, Ron had no problems with it.

Ginny started to talk to him when they all heard Charlie's voice break the silence, "Oy, Harry!" Harry turned to look at Charlie and Charlie said, "Kiss her, mate," as he pointed to something above their heads.

Harry and Ginny looked up and saw mistletoe hanging above their heads. Harry blushed slightly as Ginny's smile grew wider. Harry had no problems kissing his girlfriend, but felt a little weird doing it in front of her much older, and much larger brothers.

Harry leant down and placed a kiss against Ginny's lips, though as he was moving away, Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck, and sunk her hands into his already messy hair.

After a few moments the two lovebirds heard one of her brothers say, "Ugh, go find a room will ya?"

Harry broke apart from Ginny and looked at Bill, "Are you giving me permission?"

"Not unless you want me beating you to a bloody pulp," Bill said picking the paper back up and going back to his reading.

"Oh, Beel," Fleur said, "Let them be. Can't you zee that they are zo in love?"

Hermione looked up from her book and looked at the couple. She watched as Ginny asked Harry if he wanted to go for a walk and Harry nodded his head.

"There goes my chess opponent," Ron said as he watched the two walk out of the room.

Hermione put her book down and said, "I'll play."

Ron's eyes widened, "You want to play wizards chess? You who said it was violent?"

"Sure," Hermione said shrugging her shoulders.

"Do you know how to play?" Ron asked.

"Eh, a little, but you can show me, can't you?" Hermione asked with a smile.

"I'd love to, but you know, I really have to be somewhere tonight," Ron said swishing his wand over the chess board and clearing the board. "Maybe another time?"

Hermione only nodded her head as she watched Ron get up and head towards the stairs. As Hermione saw him disappear she went back to the school book that she was reading.

All of a sudden she felt like she didn't belong. Harry and Ginny were out together somewhere, Ron had his own stuff to do, whatever it was, and he clearly didn't want her around. The twins weren't home, but that wouldn't help her any for they'd be doing something with their girlfriends. _Why oh why did mom and dad have to go to France this year. Merlin, I should have just stayed at Hogwarts this year. _

"Hermione," Hermione heard someone calling out her name, "Hermione," this time it was elongated and a hand was waving in front of her face.

"Oh, sorry, Charlie," Hermione said as she looked at the older boy. She never expected Charlie to look the way he did. He had thick hair with long bangs that reached his eyebrows and the Weasley blue eyes. Charlie stood at 6'5 at least, Hermione concluded, for he was an inch or two taller then Bill, and you could defiantly tell that he was a hard dangerous worker, with the calloused hands and a inch and a half scar on his cheek, and another located above his left eye, which he told Hermione that he acquired from his first year working with dragons. "I was thinking, what's up?"

"Well, I said that if you wanted to play some chess I could teach you. Ron's not the only one who knows how to play."

"Really, you wouldn't mind?" Hermione realized that she practically sounded giddy.

Charlie got up out of his seat on the couch and grabbed her arm, "Come on," and he dragged her over to the little table where the chess board was set up.

Charlie went on to explain the names of all the pieces and in which way they could move.

After a while Hermione got the hang of it and they started in on their first real game.

While playing the two starting talking, Charlie about his dragons and Romania, and Hermione about what was happening in Hogwarts.

A few hours later the twins came home for a home cooked meal.

"Where is everyone?" George asked as he stood in the kitchen.

"Harry and Ginny went for a walk," Fleur answered him.

"Yeah that was about three hours ago. Remind me to beat that boy up," Bill added.

"Oh, Beel, ztop it!"

Then suddenly they heard laughter coming from the living room. Fred went to go check it out. "Looks like Charlie found something interesting to keep him occupied."

George followed behind and saw Charlie and Hermione sitting at the little table playing a game of chess. Apparently Charlie said something funny, for Hermione was laughing, and swatted at his arm, telling him to 'stop it'. Suddenly George had a sinking feeling in his stomach, like someone just told him that the ministry of magic banded all joke related items.

"Jealous, lil' brother?"

George looked over at Fred and said, "No, of what? There's nothing to be jealous of. Charlie is just trying to be nice to Hermione. Besides there's nothing to be jealous of."

"You said that already," Bill said.

"I did? Well, that's because there is nothing to be jealous of."

"That's the third time," Fred added.

"Ugh, I have a girlfriend," George told them.

"Yeah, an annoying little bugger she is too," Fred said crossing his arms.

"Fred, she was one of your best friends when we were in school!"

"Yeah, but now she's all girlie," Fred turned to Bill, "She sends him an owl every day and never has anything interesting to say. When we go out to Hogsmeade on the weekends she squeals, and is always just right there!"

"Wow," Bill said.

"Fred, stop complaining, she's not your girlfriend!"

"Thank Merlin for that! Glad I got Leanne."

"What about me?" Leanne asked apparating into the kitchen.

"Just thankful that I got ya," Fred said, greeting his girlfriend with a kiss.

"Aw, how sweet. Now where's Mione, I've got loads to talk to her about. Plus we have to go Christmas shopping!"

"She's in there with Charlie," George said pointing to the family room.

"Oooo, Charlie, he's the cute one, right?" Leanne asked.

"Hey!" The three Weasley men cried out.

Leanne just smiled and walked into the family room. She walked over to two of them and said, "Hiya Mione!"

"Leanne!" Hermione stood up, hugging her friend.

"Who's this?" Charlie asked.

"I'm Leanne, Fred's girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Charlie; I'm the one who works with the dragons."

Leanne noticed the scar above one of his eyes and said, "I can see. I mean, nice to meet you, too!"

Charlie stood up and stretched out his body, "Do you want to continue where we left off tonight after dinner?"

Hermione smiled shyly and said, "Sure."

"Great, it's a date then," Charlie said with a wink and walked out of the room.

Leanne grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her to the furthest side of the room, so as not to be overheard, but apparently one of the Weasley boys did in fact over hear.

"Damn, girl, are you trying to go through all the Weasley boys?"

"Leanne," Hermione said in a warning tone, "Ron ditched me, so Charlie offered to teach me how to play wizards chess. Then we just started to talk. It was nice. I seem to forget, easily, how it feels to be treated like a girl."

"He is hot though! All tall and ruggedly handsome, and scars. I bet they're all over him."

"Leanne, you're going out with Fred!"

"Yeah, but I can still look. Don't you worry, he's all yours!" Leanne said.

"All mine? I thought you were trying to get me together with George?"

"Eh, he's being a boy," Leanne said.

"But I don't want Charlie, I want…" Hermione bit down on her lower lip to stop herself from saying something that she wasn't supposed to.

"You still want George, don't you?" Leanne accused.

"What's the point? He has a girlfriend; in fact everyone has someone else. It's so annoying!" Hermione said getting upset, "I've tried to get closer with Ron, but every time that I do, he pushes me away."

"Charlie doesn't have a girlfriend," Leanne pointed out.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something when the two girls jumped after hearing their names being called.

"Ah, here you two are," Fred said, putting his arm around Leanne and smiling at Hermione, "Mum says it's time for supper."

"Oh, okay, we'll be there in a moment," Leanne said and shooed Fred away.

As Fred was walking away he heard Hermione ask, "Do you think he heard us?"

"Nah," Leanne answered.

Fred smiled as he walked away, plans already forming in his head.

Christmas Day seemed to fly by for everyone and then of course no one could seem to get over how Percy came by and then left again with only a few words in passing. The air seemed to be a lot thicker between everyone after that moment.

Three days after Christmas…12/28

Hermione walked towards the living room where Fred and Leanne were sitting in front of the fireplace apparently deep in conversation, as Bill and Fleur sat on the couch, Ginny, apparently, coaxed Harry into playing a game of wizard chess, and Charlie was sitting in one of the armchairs reading the paper. She stopped and stood in the archway between the kitchen and the living room and as she swung a dish towel over her shoulder, Hermione said, "Charlie, it's your turn to do the dishes."

Charlie glanced up from his paper to look up at her and then went back to reading the paper. Without lifting his eyes to Hermione's face he said, "Ask George to do it."

Hermione placed her hands on her hips and said, "But it's your turn."

"I'm sure if you ask George, though, he'll do it," Charlie defended himself.

"George will do what?" George asked as he came to stand besides Hermione.

Charlie glanced up from his paper and said, "Kiss her, mate."

"What?" Hermione asked not understanding why Charlie just said that.

Charlie looked up above their heads and the two looked up and saw mistletoe.

"I thought mum got rid of that," George mumbled under his breath.

"Apparently not," Fred said. "Kiss her," Fred started to chant, but then stopped abruptly as Leanne smacked him upside the head and told him to 'shut up'.

George turned towards Hermione and looked down at her, "Look," Hermione said with disappointment in her voice, "You don't have to do this. It's just a…"

"It's tradition, Miss Granger," George said as he cut her off and wrapped his arms around her waist, so that his hands where resting gently on the small of her back, "You wouldn't want to break tradition, now would you?"

George smiled at her; it was the same George Weasley smile that made her weak in the knees. _It's a good thing he's holding you up or you'd be a puddle on the floor, _Hermione thought to herself. She returned his smile and said, "Well, I guess not."

George leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. As he heard his twin brother whistle and clap, cheering him on, George smiled against Hermione's lips, and deepened the kiss a little more to make a show of it. Just as he was about to release her, he noticed that Hermiones' lips parted under his and felt the tip of her tongue delicately sweep the seem between his lips, shyly asking for entrance. At that moment George forgot that there were other people around and opened his mouth to allow her to explore. Then suddenly one too many things happened for his liking; Hermione sunk one of her hands into his thick red mane, as the other caressed his face until she found his ear scraping her finger nail against it, and at the same time her tongue tentatively caressed the roof of his mouth. Something in George snapped as he pulled Hermione closer to him, devouring her as though he was a starving man and she was a feast. Hermione had to move her hand that was against his ear around his neck, as she too wanted to have him closer.

"You reckon we should hose them down?" Leanne asked Fred.

"Nah, let them be," Fred said with a smile as he leant forward and kissed his girlfriend.

Charlie was about to clear his throat and break the two up when Ron came around the corner and saw the two.

"George!" he screamed breaking George and Hermione away from each other as fast as possible. As the two stood there for a moment tying to catch their breaths Ron continued to yell at George, "What the bloody hell is going on around here?"

As Hermione looked around the room, she noticed that Bill and Fleur where no longer in the room, Charlie was still reading the paper, Harry and Ginny were now sitting on the couch with their heads bent close together, laughing and talking, and Fred and Leanne were watching Ron explode at George. _Dear Merlin, _Hermione thought _how long were we kissing for_? And then suddenly she felt her face get hot at the thought of wildly kissing George in front of her friends.

"Ron," George let out a squeak. George cleared his throat and tried again, "Ron," George squeaked again and cleared his throat a bit more, "Seems that I got a tickle in my throat."

"Wasn't the only thing in it," Fred commented. George threw his twin the most evil glare that he could muster.

Hermione, on the other hand, couldn't seem to look at anyone. She bent down to pick up the dish towel that happened to fall off her shoulder as she was kissing George and said, "Charlie, dishes!"

Charlie threw down his paper and got up, "Fine," as he walked by her he mumbled, "Bossy witch!"

Hermione laughed and followed him into the kitchen to help finish cleaning up.

"That looked like some kiss," Charlie commented as he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up and dunked them into the hot water.

Hermione bit her lip and looked at her feet as she said, "It was just a kiss, he would have never of kissed me if it wasn't for that stupid mistletoe. I thought your mum got rid of that."

Charlie opened his mouth to say something when they heard yelling coming from the other room.

Charlie shook his head, "Looks like I have a fight to break up."

"No," Hermione said stepping in his way, "I'll go check it out. You stay here and wash the dishes."

"Fine," Charlie said trying to sound angry, "If you need any back up, call me!"

Hermione smiled at him before she turned to walk towards the living room.

Meanwhile…

"What the hell was up with that?" Ron asked George.

"What little Ronikins jealous?" Fred asked.

"Shut up, Fred," Ron said without even turning towards him.

"Ron, look…" George started.

"Do I have to tell Katie about the two of you?" Ron threatened.

"Damn you, tell her if that's what you really want to!" George said. This is the time when Hermione walked into the living room, though still unnoticed to anyone else in the room. Before Hermione had a chance to say something she heard George talking again, "It was just a kiss under the mistletoe! I would have never have kissed her if it wasn't for that God damn plant!"

Hermione gasped and felt as though someone was kicking her insides. Agreed, she just told Charlie the same thing, but she wasn't angry or mad about it, and surly didn't make anyone feel hurt.

Suddenly Harry spotted Hermione and opened his mouth to tell George so he wouldn't say anything he would regret later when he heard George say, "Ron, it's just Hermione."

Hermione closed her eyes to hold back her tears _Please say something else after that. Please say 'It's just Hermione, she's my friend… she's my little brothers best friend… ' something! ANYTHING!_ But George didn't say anything like that.

"George," Harry said trying to warn him.

Though Ron and George ignored him, "Oh come off it, George, if she's _just _Hermione then what was up with that kiss?"

"Nothing was up with that kiss," Ron let out a quiet snort.

"George," Harry said in a warning tone, once again.

Though, once again, his warning went unheard, "I tried to make it a simple kiss," George said to Ron, "But apparently that's not what _she _wanted," Hermione's eyes widened, which did not go unseen by Harry.

"George," Harry said again, trying to get him to stop before he said anything else.

George saw the confused look in Ron's eyes, "That's right little brother, she's the one who stuck _her_ tongue down _my _throat," Hermione covered her eyes with her hands. Charlie came in at that moment, saw Hermione, and heard what George said. Charlie placed his hand gently on Hermione's shoulder, but she shook it off. "It's not like I coaxed her into doing it. She did it all on her own," Hermione couldn't believe what he was saying; she thought that he was her friend. He made her feel like she did something a lot worse then just kiss him.

"George!" Harry said a bit louder this time.

"I have a _girlfriend, _Ron!" Hermione pushed her shoulders back and held her head up as she walked further into the room, "I don't need Hermione to have a good snog."

"George!"

George finally heard Harry and said, "What?" Before Harry could tell him that Hermione was standing behind him, Hermione tapped George on the shoulder, and just as he was turning around, she pulled her arm back and punched him in the jaw. George, not expecting Hermione to be there, or for her to throw punch, stumbled backwards and fell down.

"You Bastard!" Hermione screamed as she started after him again.

Charlie came up behind her and grabbed a hold of her, "Mione, don't kick a man while he's down."

Hermione ignored him and said, "You stood there and told me how Ron was the one who lacked charm, whit, and compassion, but you failed to see that it passed over you too!"

"Hetmione," George mumbled with a sore jaw from the floor.

"You failed to remember, George that it was _you _who kissed _me _back in September, you didn't seem to mind then, and if my mind serves me right, you had a girlfriend at that time too!" Hermione quickly struggled out of Charlie's grasp and screamed, "And where I come from there's a saying that goes, 'It takes two to Tango!'", and with that said, Hermione ran from the room.

Leanne got up to go after Hermione, "PIG!" she screamed as she passed George on the floor. Ginny ran after Leanne, and then Charlie went after the three girls. Ron threw his hands up in disgust and walked out of the room the opposite way.

Fred came over and offered George his hand to help him up. Once Fred had George standing up, he said, "Dear twin of mine, when you screw something up, you like to do it exceedingly well."

"Shud ud," George said as he spit out his broken tooth.

"Oooo, that's going to hurt like hell to heal, just as bad as mending a broken bone."

George didn't listen to what Fred was saying though, he could only recall the words he said and could only imagine how much worse they had to have sounded as Hermione heard them. He didn't respond to his brother and just slowly left the room.

Hermione ran as fast as she could through the kitchen and straight outside into the snowy cold weather. When she finally stopped, for the reason that her legs where too cold to take her any further, she realized that her hand was hurting her. She looked down and dipped her hurting hand into the cold snow, "Why did I have to punch him?" Hermione said as she started to cry again, this time because of the pain.

Suddenly she felt someone drop a cloak over her shoulders, and she quickly jumped up in surprise. For a moment she thought it must have been one of the girls who came after her, but as she looked around she only saw Charlie, "You," Hermione practically sneered at him, "I don't want to talk to you!"

"Good, cause I don't want to hear it," Charlie said in a tone that matched Hermione's to a tee. He heard Hermione gasp and then felt bad about her remark. Charlie walked over to her, started to button his cloak up, and rubbed her arms, so she would be warmer, "That was some punch," he commented, "I reckon it hurts like hell, huh?"

"Yeah," Hermione answered, "I shouldn't have done that."

"Nah, the git deserved it," Hermione laughed, "What?"

"What is up with you Weasley boys? You're always insulting one another."

"I'm not insulting, just stating a fact."

Hermione let out a small laugh, again, and said, "Besides, I meant that I shouldn't have hit him that way. I tucked my thumb under my fingers and now it hurts!"

"That's my kind of girl," Charlie said, "A girl who knows how to pack a punch and is able to admit that she did it wrong. Come on now, let's go inside and we'll fix that up before mum gets home."

Things got a little weird after that for Hermione. Katie Bell came to stay at the Burrow, as she was invited to stay for the New Year's celebration and the fact that she came to stay meant that George would be at the Burrow more then usual. Neither George nor Hermione had spoken to each other since the kiss, so it was always awkward when Katie tried to get Hermione into a conversation. The worst part for Hermione was that all Katie could do was talk about George or Quidditch and as seeing that Katie had to stay in the room with Ginny, Leanne, and Hermione, she heard too much about the two subjects she hated the most. Though, she did get the chance to get to know and like Quidditch a little better. Hermione felt even more out of place, after this, for each of the girls had their special someone to talk about. Though, Hermione decided, her silver lining was that she was becoming pretty good friends with Charlie. With George, Fred, Katie, and Leanne spending the day at the joke shop, Harry and Ginny inseparable, and Ron always off doing something, Hermione had the chance to do things with Charlie.

As Hermione sat in bed one night as Katie was going on and on about the new Seeker on the team called the "Falcons," she recalled one time when Charlie and herself went out to eat together and they ended up at the Leaky Cauldron.

As she entered the restaurant with Charlie she noticed how Tom was giving her a nasty look. "Hi, Tom," Hermione said.

"Hey darling," Tom responded, "Who's this guy?"

"_This guy,_" Hermione said, "Is George's older brother Charlie."

Suddenly Tom's eyes went wide and he smiled, "Ah, yes, I can see the resemblance now," Tom said, "Good to meet you," Tom said with his hand out stretched.

"Likewise," Charlie said and shook the older man's hand.

Hermione lead Charlie to a booth and the two sat down.

Katy came over soon and said, "Hello Hermione," and then took a second look at who she was with, "Are you cheating on…"

"No," Hermione said quickly, "This is Charlie, Georges' older brother."

"Ah," Katy said with a smile, "The one who works with the dragons in Romania, huh?"

"Ah, yeah," Charlie said a little surprised she knew that much about him while he didn't even know her name.

"My name is Katy," Katy said with a smile, "Been waiting on Hermione and George all summer. Pretty romantic story between the two, isn't it?" She said starring at him.

"Uh, yeah," Charlie said getting confused.

"Katy, could you give us a few minutes here?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, Mione, be back in a few," Katy said and walked off.

Hermione put her head in her hands as she heard Charlie say, "I am so confused," Charlie elongated the 'so' to prove his point.

Hermione laughed and told him the story about George and herself, "Yeah, sounds like something Georgie boy would do," Charlie said as she finished.

"I want him to tell Tom we broke up, I can't take this. I walk in here with you and I get evil death glares. I mean what if I wanted to bring my boyfriend in here one day… when I get one, that is."

Charlie just laughed and Katy came back to take their orders.

On New Year's Eve day…

"Come on ladies!" Fleur announced, "Letz go zhoping! We'll have a girlz day out. Who wants to come?"

"I will!" Hermione was quick to answer. She knew that Charlie was going home that morning, due to the fact that he was missing his dragons, Harry and Ginny had special plans for the evening, and Ron was gone. But he said before that he'd be back before night time. So Hermione was glad for that. At least she'd be able to spend New Year's Eve with Ron.

"Katie," Fleur asked. Hermione gasped and closed her eyes praying to whoever was listening that she wouldn't want to go.

"Ah, thanks, but no thanks. I think I'll just spend the day with George."

Hermione silently tanked whoever answered her prayer, "What about you Leanne?" Hermione asked.

"Count me in!"

"All right, ladies," Fleur said, "Off we go!"

The two girls said good-bye to their boyfriends and flooed to the Leaky Cauldron. As Hermione was about to do the same thing, she felt someone grab her arm, it was Charlie.

"Didn't think you were going to leave without saying good-bye, did you now?" Charlie smiled down at her.

"Oh, well, it is pretty early and I know you like to sleep in, that's why I said bye to you last night. I wasn't going to wake you," Hermione said.

"Uh, Hermione… can I… well I mean, can I write to you some time?"

"Sure!" Hermione responded with a smile. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him, "Now take care of you," she said as she felt him return the hug.

"You too," Charlie laid a gentle kiss on top of her head and said, "Now get going, the other girls are waiting for you."

"Okay, bye," Hermione said with a smile.

As Charlie turned around to go back up the stairs and he noticed that George had walked into the room at some point in the past few minutes, "Morning, lil' brother," Charlie said and almost laughed at the evil glare he was receiving from George and just whistled a happy tune as he went into the kitchen to greet his mum and see what was for breakfast.

Later that evening…

The three girls flooed back into the Burrow after their shopping excursion in Muggle London. As they reached the Burrow living room, they saw that the celebration was already starting.

"Hermione?" the girls heard someone call her. The girls saw that it was Mrs. Weasley. She motioned for Hermione to come into the kitchen and Leanne followed her as Fleur went off to see Bill.

"What's wrong, Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, but you know you should have been back sooner. You're going to miss the port key opening. Now go up to your room get dressed and have a good time."

Hermione looked confused, "Mrs. Weasley, what are you talking about?"

"Why, about Neville Longbottom's New Year's Eve Party, of course."

"Neville is having a New Year's Eve Party?" Hermione asked.

"Oh dear, Ron told me he told you and gave you the invite. The invite, dear, is the portkey to the party. Didn't he give you the invite?"

"No," Hermione said angrily.

"Hmm," Mrs. Weasley responded, "Well, then you can have the same fun right here," the older woman said with a smile and bought out another tray of food.

"I will kill him! I can't believe this, why didn't he give me the invite?"

"I don't know, but you can ask him tomorrow, for now let's grab some punch and join the others," Leanne said trying to get her past this ordeal until tomorrow at least.

"I'm not going to stay at the party. I think I'll just head up to my room and work on some reading or something," Hermione said sadly.

"What, why? It's New Year's Eve; you can't do homework on New Year's Eve!"

"I'm not going to sit out there where everyone has someone and I have no one. No thank you!" Hermione said, "You go to your boyfriend and have some fun."

Hermione headed towards the stairs when Leanne grabbed her arm, "Well, you have to at least grab some food, you haven't eaten since lunch!" with that said Leanne dragged Hermione into the living room.

As soon as the two did so, Fred came along and took Leanne away. Hermione sighed and decided that she didn't need anything to eat, she wasn't _that_ hungry. As she turned to leave she felt someone grab her arm and whispered, "Save me," Hermione looked up and realized that it was Charlie.

"What…" Hermione was interrupted in mid word when she heard Katie.

"Charlie, we weren't finished explaining the difference between…"

"Sorry, Katie," Charlie interrupted her, "I had something important to talk to Hermione about."

"Oh, okay, I guess that I'll just go see Fred and Leanne then."

"No!" Charlie said.

Both girls were shocked by his outburst, but Hermione helped him with this one, "What he means is that George is looking for you."

Katie smiled and said, "Oh okay," and went off to find George.

"What was that all about, and on that note, what are you still doing here?" Hermione asked.

"Well, when Ron came home just before I was about to leave, he was talking to Harry about going out tonight. When I asked him if you were going with him he said no. So I decided that the dragons could wait and that I'd get to spend New Year's Eve with you," Charlie said with a smile.

Hermione smiled back, "My hero, huh?"

"Well, someone should do it, and I was the lucky one."

Before the two could say another word Leanne and Fred came over to them, "Look at poor George over there," Fred said shaking his head, "The poor bloke."

"Well, he got himself into it," Charlie said.

"Why do I get the feeling that no one likes Katie?" Hermione said.

"Oh we like her," Fred said, "She was one of my best mates when George and I were in school, but now she's just…"

"What Fred is trying to say, is that he doesn't remember her being like that. Besides you know how she goes on and on about Quidditch."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders, "After her talking about it for a long while, I finally get it, and I think I like it. I think I'd even enjoy playing it, if I liked to fly. Besides, I think she's perfect for George. She loves Quidditch, just like he does; at least they have something in common."

"Quidditch is the _only _thing they have in common," Fred said. Hermione looked confused, "Yeah, hobby, playing Quidditch and collecting brooms."

"Favorite book," Charlie chimed in, "Quidditch through the years."

"Favorite movie…" Leanne said.

"How to play Quidditch?" Hermione asked and the others laughed.

"Titanic," Leanne said.

"Oh," Hermione said a bit disgustedly.

After that the four of them got into a small conversation about moving pictures and other odds and ends.

Through the night, Hermione couldn't really remember how she got where she was. One minute Leanne and Fred left her alone with Charlie and they were talking near the fireplace and the next, Charlie was sitting in a big armchair, and Hermione was sitting on the chairs' arm, with her feet tucked under Charlie's legs.

"Um…" Charlie said to Hermione, "I was wondering, it's a few minutes to midnight, and well, considering that we're both not seeing anyone, and we are together here on New Year's Eve that maybe…"

Hermione smiled and said, "Charlie Weasley, are you asking my permission to kiss me at midnight?"

"Yeah, would you mind?"

Hermione, still smiling, said, "No, I would not mind."

"Really?" Charlie said shocked and he raised his eyebrows. Hermione only nodded.

"One minute to midnight!" Mr. Weasley cried out.

Charlie stood up, took the empty cup of juice from Hermiones' hands and placed it on an end table. He took a hold of her hands, helped her off from the chairs' arm.

"5…4…3..," Everyone was counting down, "2… 1… Happy New Year's!"

Charlie leaned down and laid a gentle kiss against her lips, and before too long he parted from her and said, "Happy New Year's, Mione."

"Happy New Year's, Charlie," Hermione responded.

Charlie noticed the glare that he was once again getting from George, "Looks like lil' brother is jealous."

"What?" Hermione asked not fully hearing his whole sentence.

"Nothing," Charlie said and hugged her once more before the whole room was wishing one another a Happy New Year. Somehow, though, Hermione crossed everyone's path but George's.

That night as Hermione laid in her bed with only Leanne and Katie in the room, Hermione thought of two things, one of that how Harry was so going to get it from all the Weasley boys when he got home, and two, what she had to do tomorrow besides giving an earful to Ron.

The next morning, Hermione jumped out of bed, quickly got dressed and headed down the stairs. As she entered the kitchen she saw Charlie there talking with his parents.

"Hey you," Charlie said as he saw her.

"Hi," Hermione responded as the two walked into the living room to be alone, "Just wanted to make sure that I said bye before you left."

"Wouldn't have left until you did," Charlie said.

Hermione gave him a hug, which Charlie reciprocated, "Take care of you," Hermione said and then laughed.

"What?"

"Feels like Déjà vu."

"Maybe because we did the same thing yesterday," Charlie said in a teasing voice.

Hermione stepped back and said, "You aren't going to be making any surprise trips back, are you now?"

"No," Charlie said, "My dragons have missed me enough already."

Then Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came into the room saying their good-byes too. Charlie stood back from everyone and said, "Well, I'll keep in touch," he winked quickly at Hermione and then apparated out of the house.

Just then Ron came down the stairs, "Did Charlie leave already?"

"Just did, honey," Mrs. Weasley said.

Ron sighed in disgust and said, "All right, I'm going back to bed."

"Not yet," Hermione stated. She then turned to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and said, "Can we have a moment?"

"Sure," Mr. Weasley said, "Come on, Molly, let's leave them alone to talk."

"How come you never told me about Neville's New Year's Eve Party last night?"

"I did," Ron said as he yawned, "Not my fault if you didn't remember."

"Yeah and where did the invitation get to?"

"I put it in your room," Ron answered.

"Really, you want to come and show me where exactly you put it?"

"Well, it's not there anymore," Ron said and watched as Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, "It disappears once the portkey closes."

"Was Harry and Ginny at this party too?"

"Well, yeah, for a little while. They arrived at nine and left shortly after midnight."

"Just one more question; if Charlie asked you if I was going to this party with you last night, why did you tell him 'no'?"

"What I meant was we weren't going together. Not that you weren't going period," when Hermione didn't say anything after that he asked, "Can I go back to bed now?"

Hermione didn't answer him and just stormed off to the fire place getting herself ready for what she had to do. She grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace as she screamed 'Diagon Alley'.

Hermione stood up and dusted her clothes off as she entered the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Well, hello there darling," Hermione heard, "You're here mighty early. We aren't even opened yet."

"Hi Tom. Happy New Year's. Sorry, I just needed to come by and talk to George."

"Haven't seen that boy around here for awhile. Is he all right?"

"Yeah," Hermione said with a smile.

Tom walked over to the door and unlocked it for her, "There you go," Tom said as he opened the door for her.

"Thanks, Tom. Have a good day," Hermione said as she ran off to the joke shop.

"You too," Tom called after her.

It was already after 8:30 and the shop already had some customers in there. She took a deep breath, opened the door, and walked in.

"Hello and welcome to… Hermione?"

"Hi Fred," Hermione greeted.

"Well, what are you doing here this early? Shouldn't you be at home packing to go back to school? You leave tomorrow, right?"

"What's with the twenty questions?" Hermione asked with a laugh as she started to answer his questions, "Had to say bye to Charlie this morning, so I had to get up early. I already packed, and yes we are leaving tomorrow."

"Well, then what are you doing here?"

"I… um… I came to talk to George," Hermione said nervously, "Is he still mad at me?"

Before Fred was able to answer him, they heard another voice, "Oy, Fred, she's got a question about… Hermione?"

"Hi George."

"Um… why don't I go attend to the customers and George, why don't you and Hermione head off to the back room. Hermione came by to talk to you," Fred said quickly and then left the two alone.

"You came to talk to me?" George asked and Hermione nodded her head, "Do you want to go into the back room?"

"Sounds good."

George lead Hermione back into the back room and once the door was closed, Hermione said, "George, I'm sorry."

"For what? If anyone should be sorry it should be me. I didn't mean anything that I said," George said, "It's just that Ron was so mad and I just wanted to let him know that there wasn't anything going on between the two of us. I guess that I wanted him to believe it that I didn't really think before I spoke."

"Ron wasn't mad," Hermione said.

"No, he was, and he was a bit jealous too."

Hermione let out a little laugh, "Jealous about what?"

"Well, that he thought that his bigger brother was taking away what he wanted."

"I don't know if I should feel flattered or insulted," Hermione smiled. "I am sorry about hitting you too."

"Some punch you packed too," George said touching his jaw where she hit him.

"Yeah, well, they taught us self defense in Switzerland."

George smiled and asked, "So, are we still friends?"

"Yeah," Hermione said with a smile, "Always."

"Good," George said as he hugged her quickly, "Now, how would you like to stay and we'll go for some lunch, for old time sakes?"

Hermione smiled and was about to say, 'Sure', when the door opened and Katie poked her head in, "Oh there you are George, I was looking all over the place for you."

"Katie, I'm talking with Hermione right now, can you give us a few more minutes?"

"Oh, sure," Katie said with a smile, "Hi Hermione."

Hermione waved back and Katie left.

"So, how about it?" George asked.

"I'll take a rain check."

"Okay."

"One more thing," Hermione said, "You're going to have to tell Tom we broke up. I can't take lying to that man anymore. Besides that, I can't even walk in there with Charlie without getting heated stares. What's going to happen when I get a real boyfriend, huh?"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell him tonight. I plainly forgot about that. I'll fix it, okay?" George said with a smile.

"Okay, thanks. I have to get going now. You and Fred are going to be at the station tomorrow, right?"

"Sure are."

"Good, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yes, tomorrow."

When Hermione got back to the Burrow she saw how everything was in chaos. Ron was running around again, being the last minute packer as he is. Hermione picked up her book that she left downstairs, sat on the couch and started to read.

Soon she heard Ron scream, "Why the hell do we have to go back on a Thursday? What's the point in having one day of classes before the weekend?"

"Ron, there are no classes on Friday!" Hermione screamed back at him, "It's a free day so those who want to can go to teachers for extra help, or for those who need to get their homework done, like you and Harry, can do it!" Hermione just laughed at Ron and went back to her reading.

The next day…

Hermione thanked the Weasley's for allowing her to stay at the Burrow and went on to say bye to everyone else. George and Fred were actually there early, so she got the chance to say good-bye to George. She would have said bye to Fred too, if Leanne would have let him go.

Just as she was bordering the train, she heard Fred call out her name she turned and looked at him, "Forgot to give something to you," Fred called out just as the train was moving. He threw her a small box Hermione caught it and looked at it. She looked confusedly at Fred and he screamed, "There's a note inside."

Hermione nodded and waved and then the train pulled out of the station.

As she opened the door to the compartment she noticed that Ron wasn't there, "Where's Ron?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and said, "He said he was going to meet up with some of the guys," and then Harry went back to talking to Ginny.

Hermione took a seat next to Leanne and held the box in her hands.

"What's that?" Leanne asked.

"Just something from Fred."

"My boyfriend is buying you presents?" Leanne asked, "Is there something you need to tell me?" Leanne laughed and so did Hermione.

Hermione popped the box open and looked confused as she saw two set of keys. She pulled out the little note and it read,

_One key to the front of the store and the other our flat. Use them wisely._

"What?" Hermione asked confusedly.

"Oh, Fred gave you a set of keys to the shop too?"

"But why?"

"I don't know, in case we needed them for something, or just to get away, I don't know. You never know," Leanne said. "Oooo! Besides that, George and Katie broke up!"

"What?"

"He told her that there was someone else. You know what that means, don't ya?" Hermione shook her head, "It means that that someone else is you!"

"The man works in Diagon Alley; maybe he just met someone else.

"Okay, if you say so."

End of Flashback

"Ms. Granger!" Hermione heard someone yell her name. Hermione practically jumped out of her seat and saw that the potions room was empty. "Class has been over for 5 minutes already."

"What?"

"I suggest you get going, it's lunch time," Professor Slughorn said as he went back to grading papers.

Hermione gathered her stuff and left the room, wondering if he knew that she daydreamed during his whole class.

Hermione was sitting alone at the table picking at her food when she noticed that a package fell in front of her. She looked up and saw an owl flying away before she could see it clearly. Hermione looked down at the package and saw that it was a red heart shaped box with a rose on it. She took the rose off and read the note.

_But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun!_

And he signed it

_I know not how to tell thee who I am: My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself._

_A.K.A. your secret admirer_

At reading the note she wondered if her secret admirer knew that she liked Shakespeare or if this man was just trying to be a romantic. _He has to know that you like Shakespeare, for he picked a quote right out of you favorite play. _

She opened the box and noticed that it was filled with candy. She closed the box again and looked all over the box wondering if she could find a clue from where this came from. As she turned it upside down she noticed one thing; it had initials on it: WWW. Hermione gasped and ran out of the Great Hall.

To be continued….

* * *

Had to write this chapter like 3 times at least. I hope that everyone liked it. There's one more flashback and a total of either 2 or 3 chapters left. 

I have a question for ALL, does anyone know any good Hermione/George fic sites, if so please either e-mail them to me or add the link in a review. I would appreciate it. Thanks! 


	5. Chapter 5

As she turned it upside down she noticed one thing; it had initials on it: WWW. Hermione gasped and ran out of the Great Hall. She wanted to go talk to Leanne, with the twins back in Diagon Alley she thought of Leanne being the only person who could possibly know what was going on.

As she turned one corner she saw Leanne with Fred. Hermione smile widened and she ran over to them, hoping that is wasn't interrupting a moment.

Hermione cleared her throat and Fred turned around to see Hermione, "Hi Mione."

"Hi, Fred, I am so glad that you're still here in the castle."

"What's up?" Fred asked.

"Look Mione!" Leanne squealed as she held her hand out to her friend, "It's a promise ring!"

Mione took the hand and looked at the ring; it was a simple white gold band with two little hearts intertwining and a solitaire diamond in the middle where the two hearts met. "It's gorgeous, Leanne," Hermione turned towards Fred and showed him the box of chocolates, "I didn't know you guys did Valentine's Day candy."

"Ah, well, we don't," Hermione looked confusedly at him, "Why don't you ask George about it?" Fred asked and before Hermione could even open her mouth to say anything Fred screamed, "Oy, George, just the boy I was looking for, Hermione has something to ask you."

Hermione turned and saw George walking down the corridor; Hermione turned back around towards Fred, and noticed that he and Leanne were already walking away from her.

"What's up, Hermione?" George asked as he walked towards her. Hermione held up the box of chocolates and George stopped in his tracks, "Why don't we sit down?" George asked as he sat on a window seat and patted the spot next to him.

"So, what do you know about it?" Hermione asked as she handed him the heart shaped candy box, "Do you know who sent this to me?"

"Um, well," George said getting a little nervous and then smiled, "Some big tall guy comes into the shop and asks for a special order. Looked a bit like that Malfoy bloke," George said in a teasing tone.

"Really?" Hermione asked between being shocked and excited.

"No, you silly witch," George said, "We don't know who it was. An owl came one morning with a note attached asking for a special order."

Hermione opened the box up again and asked, "So, you don't know who sent it to me?" George just remained silent and shook his head, "So, are any of these going to make me sprout a horn from my head?"

George threw his head back and laughed, "No, they are all quite harmless, and I do suspect them to be to your liking."

Hermione picked the one from the middle and said, "This one looks harmless."

As she was about to pick it up, George said, "That's just regular Swiss chocolate."

"Swiss Chocolate?" Hermione asked excited, "You know how much I like Swiss Chocolate," as she took the chocolate from the spot and offering him a piece.

"Yeah, this guy who sent this to you must really _know _you to a tee," George said as he took a circular one and put the whole thing into his mouth. As George opened his mouth again a small butterfly came flying out.

Hermione giggled and then gasped, "It is Malfoy!"

"How could it be Malfoy?" George asked confused.

"Well, he is prefect like I am. He's even called me 'Mione before. Well, once, and I think he was drinking Fire whiskey, and he knows I like Swiss Chocolate, because my parents sent me a box of it for my birthday, and I offered him one, and he actually took it! And he knows I like 'Romeo and Juliet'. Oh my gosh, look see!" Hermione sat fumbling for the note that came with the chocolates. "Read what's written," and she shoved the piece of parchment into his hand, "It's the part in 'Romeo and Juliet' when Romeo doesn't want to give Juliet his name because he's her mortal enemy!"

"Hermione, it's not Malfoy, it's…" George started to say when he heard Hermione gasp. "What?"

"Look," when George did look he saw the gift that was hidden in there for her, "Do you think they're real?" Hermione asked as she held the two solitaire diamond stud earrings in her hands.

"I can guarantee it," George whispered in her ear and stood up, "I have to get going," George said sadly and walked away.

"Bye," Hermione called after him.

…

Hermione sat there on the window seat for just a few more minutes longer. She kept on thinking about her mystery guy. _Could it actually be Malfoy? _She thought to herself, _If it is, he's only doing it to get a rise out of you. _Hermione thought a little harder and thought about other people. _The only other person who even knows that you like 'Romeo and Juliet' is George. _Hermione paused for a moment and blinked. _Could it be? No, you can rule that one right out; he has no feelings for you. If it was him, he would have said something, right? _She recalled the last time she saw him

…

Flashback

….

Hermione closed her books and rubbed her eyes. She finally finished her homework that she never got to over winter break. It was Friday night and she wanted to go see if any of her friends wanted to do something. She grabbed her wand from her night stand and left her room. As she went down to the common room she noticed that no one was there. She shrugged her shoulders and thought that maybe the boys were in the kitchen trying to get Dobby to get them some food, so she left the common room without another thought. She headed down towards the kitchen making sure that no one would catch her. It wouldn't look good if Gryffindor prefect got caught sneaking around Hogwarts after curfew.

Hermione soon came to the painting that was at the entrance of the kitchen and tickled the pear. The painting moved aside so that she could enter and once she did, she heard voices, to be more specific, she heard Ron's voice along with a girl's voice who was most defiantly not Ginny.

As Hermione walked further into the room she saw Ron sitting at the small table with Lavender Brown. Hermione thought for a moment and wondered how long he's been hanging out with her. Hermione shrugged her shoulders and thought that they just happened to meet in the kitchen for the first time. Though, Hermione was about to find out that she totally wrong. Just as Hermione opened her mouth to let the two know that she was there she watched as Ron laid a chaste kiss to Lavender's nose and heard the girl giggle. Hermione's breath got caught up in her throat and thought, that maybe that's just the way that Ron flirts with girls these days. Hermione, once again, found out that she was wrong as she watched as Lavender reached up and pulled Ron's head down for a passionate kiss. Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing. This was defiantly not the first time that Ron and Lavender had seen each other. Ron was so cool and collective around her and saw that as Ron pulled away from Lavender, he pulled her into a tight hug, kissed the top of her head, and mumbled something. Hermione didn't catch what it was, but it apparently made Lavender happy, as she looked up at Ron, smiled, and said "Ditto," which only made Ron laugh.

Hermione just slowly walked out of the kitchen and ran back to the common room. She didn't know what to think, or what to feel. She felt betrayed and lied to, but surprisingly enough she didn't feel jealous, or rage towards the girl.

As Hermione walked back into the common room she heard someone call her name and realized that it was Neville.

"Hermione, are you mad at me or something?"

"Neville, I don't have time…" Hermione started to say, but he cut her off.

"I mean, I understand that Ron came with Lavender and all, but that didn't mean you still couldn't have come to the party. I mean there were plenty of other guys there."

"I… what did you say?" Hermione asked.

"The party…"

"No, about Ron," Hermione said.

"What, Ron came with Lavender, I mean he could have just sent me an owl and asked for another invite, he didn't have to ask for yours."

"What!" Hermione asked getting rather annoyed.

"He told me that you let Lavender use your invite," Neville said.

"Everyone knows don't they?" Hermione asked feeling somewhat stupid, "I mean that Ron and Lavender are going out."

"Well, I imagine so; they've been going out for… you mean you didn't know?" Neville asked.

"No, I did not," Hermione said bitterly.

"Wow, for the first time I'm not the last to know about something."

Hermione sighed and was about to run up the steps to her room when she heard voices walk into the common room; it was Harry and Ginny.

"Hey, Mione," Hermione heard Ginny say to her as she took a seat next to Harry on the couch.

Hermione turned away from the stairs and walked over to where Harry, Ginny, and Neville were sitting about. "Neville," Hermione said as nice as she could, "Do you mind going for a few moments? I need to talk to Harry and Ginny."

Neville looked at Hermione, then at Harry, "Um, sure," Neville said as he packed up his stuff and quickly walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

"Well, that was a bit rude," Harry said, "Seriously what could you possibly _not _say in front of Neville?"

"What do you two take me for?" Hermione asked, ignoring Harry's question.

"Excuse me?" Harry asked, confused about Hermione's question.

"What do you have some kind of bet going on, trying to see how long it takes Miss-Know-It-All to find out that Ron is going out with Lavender?"

Neither Harry nor Ginny could look Hermione in the eyes. Harry was the first to speak, "It's not like that Hermione."

"What is it like, please enlighten me."

"Well, Ron said he wanted to be the one to tell you, so he asked us not to tell you," Harry said.

"And how long have they been going out for?" Hermione asked. Neither one answered her question, "Ginny, how long have they been going out for?"

"A month," Ginny answered her quietly.

"Nice," Hermione mumbled under her breath, "What a bunch of great friends I have."

"Well, we were nervous of how you would react to it," Harry said.

"I don't like Ron in that way, not anymore at least, and not for a long time. Ginny should have at least known about that," Hermione said crossly, "Besides even if I did, what did you think I would do? Throw a tantrum? Throw myself into the lake and let the creatures take me? I'm not a child or psychotic!" Hermione said with anger and hurt in her voice. She moved from her spot and headed towards the stairs.

"We're sorry, Hermione," Harry said.

Hermione turned around and said, "That's not going to cut it this time, Harry. You and Ron, I thought, are my best friends. Maybe you two should start acting like it," Hermione said with tears threatening to escape from her eyes and ran up the stairs to her room.

…

Hermione could not sleep that night; she was too angry and hurt to do so. She sat in the arm chair that was in her room located in front of her fireplace. Hermione's blanket was covering her and keeping her warm from the dampness and draft that the castle room gave off. She pointed her wand at the fireplace, said a spell and watched a great fire grow in the hearth of the fireplace. She stared into the fire letting the memories of how Ron lied to her play with her mind. _It disappears once the port key closes. What I meant was we weren't going together. Not that you weren't going period. _Hermione remembered and then the haunting words Neville said. _He told me that you let Lavender use your invite. Wow, for the first time I'm not the last to know about something._

Hermione felt tears once again sting at her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. She pointed her wand at her small bookcase and said, "Accio 'Rome and Juliet'", the book floated over to her and landed in her lap. Hermione sighed and opened the book. She kept reading until the words started to swim together and she could no longer keep her eyes opened any longer.

…

Hermione was soon woken, in what felt like only minutes, but was really hours. In the angel she was the sun hit her directly in the face. She moaned and pulled the blanket higher to shield her eyes from the bright winter sun. Forgetting that she was still in the chair and not her bed, she tried to roll over, but she only seemed to fall onto the hard cold floor. That woke Hermione up. She stood up and stretched, trying to get all the kinks out of her back and neck caused by the position that she fell asleep in. Hermione shivered slightly due to the fire died long ago and the cold retook over her room. She was about to get back into her bed when she heard someone knock on her door. Wondering who could be up this early she quickly went to her door and flew it open.

"Ginny," Hermione said in a small gasp, thinking that there was an emergency, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, Hermione," Ginny said, "I'm sorry."

Hermione sighed, walked away from the door and sat down on the bed. Ginny, thinking this was Hermiones way of telling her to come, did so. Ginny walked into the room, closed the door, and sat down on the bed besides Hermione.

Ginny heard her take in a deep breath and say, "Ginny, you of all people know that it doesn't bother me that Ron has a girlfriend."

"Well, no kidding," Ginny smiled, but soon the smile disappeared from her face, "I know that I have should have told you. When Ron told Harry and I, he said and I quote, 'Don't tell Hermione, though, I want to be the one who tells her. You know the ol' girl fancies me.'"

Hermione laughed slightly at Ginny's impression of Ron and said, "What did you say?"

"I just laughed in his face and smacked him upside the head," that earned Ginny another laugh from Hermione, "I tried to tell them that you didn't like Ron, but neither boy would believe me."

"Ginny, you didn't tell them about…"

Hermione didn't even have to finish her sentence to have Ginny know what she talking about. "Hell, no! Hermione, what do you take me for?"

"Sorry," Hermione mumbled.

"It's okay."

After that the two girls just sat in Hermione's bed talking and giggling for a few hours. Until Ginny reminded them that it was a Hogsmeade day.

Ginny got off the bed and asked Hermione, "You are coming into town with us, aren't you?"

Hermione thought for a moment and then smiled remembering something, "Yes, and no," she saw how Ginny looked at her confusedly, and Hermione said, "I'm coming into town, but I think I'll head on over to Diagon Alley."

Ginny smiled and left the room without another word.

…

Later that morning…

Hermione came down the stairs and was greeted by Ron, "Hey, Hermione, you look nice today."

Hermione only rolled her eyes and walked over to where Harry and Ginny were playing a game of chess and started up a small conversation with them.

Ron stayed where he was because he was shocked by the way Hermione just simply ignored him. He walked over to where she was and asked, "Okay, so what did I do now?"

"Enough," Hermione responded angrily.

"You know, Mione, I think that the only reason why you get mad at me is because you have nothing else better to do."

Hermione quickly turned towards him and said, "You _lied _to me and made me feel like a _fool_."

"What? When?" Ron asked, getting a little nervous now.

"You never gave me the invite to Neville's party, you gave it to Lavender because she's your girlfriend and she wasn't invited," Ron stood there like a fish out of water, opening and closing his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't decide what he wanted to say. "Everyone in this school knows that the two of you have been going out, but me, your friend! You didn't even have the decency to tell me about it yourself because you think I _fancy _you!"

"Don't you?" Ron asked.

"No," Hermione said quietly, "I haven't felt anything towards you, but friendship, for about a year, and I don't even know if I want that anymore."

"Hermione, I'm…"

"No," Hermione said calmly, "I don't want to hear any apologies, or any more of your lame excuses. I don't even want to talk to you right now." With that said Hermione left the common room.

…

Hermione didn't show up for breakfast at the Great Hall and when they boarded their ride to Hogsmeade, Hermione sat in the back with some other girl from Gryffindor.

When they reached the small town, Hermione pulled Ginny over to the side and asked, "Did you get it for me?" Ginny nodded and handed Hermione a small invisibility cloak. "Thanks!" Hermione said and walked away saying, "See you later."

"Where is she going?" Ron asked. Ginny shrugged her shoulders. Ron didn't ask anymore questions because Lavender came up and grabbed a hold of his arm.

Hermione walked down the alley that was besides The Three Broomsticks and said a spell over the cloak that made it into its normal size. Hermione was glad that she remembered how Madame Rosmerta did not allow Hermione or Ron into the bar when they visited in their third year and they tried to follow Harry into the building. She threw the cloak over herself and entered the building. No one paid her any attention, more then likely because no one saw her. She quickly threw a few sickles onto the counter to pay for the floo powder and then headed on over to the fireplace. She grabbed some powder and hoped that the green magical fire would do nothing to Harry's cloak. Hermione threw the powder into the fire and said, "Diagon Alley," and before anyone even noticed the activation in the fireplace she was gone.

Hermione landed in the Leaky Cauldron and started to cough.

"Whose there?" She heard someone call out.

Hermione threw the cloak off her head, happy to see that it was not ruined, and said, "Hi Tom."

"Well, I'll be," Tom said, "Didn't imagine seeing you here again until the summer months. You aren't supposed to be leaving Hogsmeade, you know that, right?"

Hermione went red in the cheeks, "Yes, I know Tom, but I just needed to see George."

"Aye," Tom said, "Go on lass, and tell him that old Tom says 'Hi'."

"Will do," Hermione said as she left the building.

…

Hermione made her way quickly to the twins' shop, but then noticed that there was a rather large sign in the window explaining that it would be closed for the next two days. Hermione sighed, and hoped that they would be home. If not, she decided, she'd at least have the day to herself, which what she really wanted. She took out the set of keys that Fred gave to her only a few short days ago and unlocked the front door. As she hurried into the building, she quickly closed the door and relocked the door, as so no one would see her.

Hermione then proceeded her way to the stairs in the back of the building that would bring her up to the boys' flat. That door, as always, was unlocked. She slowly made her way up the stairs and then when she reached the door to their flat she knocked rather hard on it. When she got no answer, she concluded that the boys were not at home, and once again used the key she had to unlock the door.

Hermione turned the key in the lock and turned the knob. _That's it? I hope so at least, don't need anything else happening to me today. _She opened the door with eased and let out a sigh of relief when nothing happened to her when she walked through the doorway. "George," Hermione called out and then she called out, "Fred?" when she got no answer she went around the small flat to see if they were even at home. Hermione walked into Fred's room, noticing that it was messy, but also seeing that there was no Fred in the unmade bed. She then proceeded into George's room, in which the room was slightly a bit cleaner then Fred's, but still the bed was unmade, and there was no George in it. She was about to leave the room when she spotted something. It was the gift she handed to George and Fred before she boarded the train for Hogwarts in September; a picture of the twins with herself between the two of them. Hermione had intended them to hang it up in the shop downstairs, but just shrugged her shoulders and walked out of his room. When she was completely satisfied that neither one of the twins were at home she decided to just hang out at the apartment. Hermione took off her winter coat and flung it onto one of the chairs in the sitting area. She then proceeded to take off her Gryffindor scarf and boots. She sat down on the couch and let out a rather long yawn, remembering that she didn't have a good nights' sleep, she laid down on the couch and rested her head on one of the pillows.

…

_A while later…_

_Hermione felt someone shaking her awake. "Mione," she heard someone say her name. "Mione, wake up."_

_Hermione woke up and saw a pair of blue eyes looking at her; she sat straight up, and hit her head against his head. "Ouch, sorry," Hermione rubbed her head and then opened her eyes to see that it was George. "Hey George."_

"_What are you doing here?" George asked, "Not that I mind, but aren't you supposed to be in Hogwarts? Don't tell me that you smuggled yourself out of there."_

_Hermione shook her head, "No, I just needed to get away from everyone," and before George could open his mouth to say anything, Hermione said, "Ron has a girlfriend." _

"_Oh," George said sadly, "And you're upset, huh?"_

"_Surprisingly, no, what hurts is that he never told me. George, he's been going out with Lavender for a month now and he never once told me."_

_George sat besides her on the couch and asked as he looked deeply into her eyes, "So, you don't have any feelings for him?"_

"_No!" Hermione said in almost a disgusted voice._

"_Good," George said. He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her into a kiss. _

_Hermione was about to push him away, ready to ask him what he thought he was doing, but when she felt him nibbling on her lower lip, she really didn't care why he was doing what he was doing._

_George pulled away just slightly and said, "I thought you always had these repressed feelings for, Ron."_

_Hermione shook her head, "No," she said and then maneuvered herself so that she was straddling his lap, "Always been you," she said as she bent her head foreword and kissed him. _

_Suddenly they heard the door slam. Hermione and George broke apart and saw Fred standing there in front of the door. _

"_What's going on here?" Fred asked in almost a giddy tone. _

"_What does it look like?" George asked, upset that his twin was interrupting them. _

_Fred went over to the couch and sat besides George. "Ron has a girlfriend and never told Hermione about it." _

"_It's about time our little brother do something really stupid," Fred said and grabbed a hold of Hermione's neck and kissed her. _

_Hermione pushed him away and looked at George. He shrugged his shoulders. Hermione thought about it for a second and said, "Ah, what the hell," as she leaned down and kissed Fred again._

…

Meanwhile…

George and Fred entered their shop down below, "Never thought those little Goblins could be so mean," Fred said. "You'd think that having a brother who works in Gringotts could help us out."

"Bill works at the Gringotts in Egypt, Fred, not London."

"So?" Fred asked.

George rolled his eyes and took off his dress robes, "I am going to go eat something."

"Whatever you're making, make two."

"I'm not mum!" George yelled as he walked up the stairs to their flat. George put the key into the key hole, and noticing that it was already unlocked, pulled his wand out and prepared himself for anything. As he inched the door opened, he saw that nothing was disturbed and as he walked into the apartment he noticed a sleeping Hermione on the couch. He put his wand in the back pocket of his worn out jeans and threw his dress robes over a chair.

George decided to let Hermione remain sleeping until she woke up, or he woke her up for lunch. He then walked his way into the kitchen to see what they had, food-wise.

Fred came into the flat, no too long afterward. "Hey, did you know that Hermione is on our couch, sleeping?"

"Yeah. Did you know that we have no food in the flat, again?"

"Um…"

Before Fred could say another word, they both heard Hermione call out George's name.

"Yeah, Hermione, what's up?" He asked as he walked into the sitting room and noticed that she was still sleeping, "I could swear she just called for me."

Fred came over and smiled, "I think she's dreaming about you, mate."

Before George could come back with a witty comeback, they heard Hermione gasp out George's name again.

George sat down on the wooden coffee table and said, "She is, isn't she?"

"This is a good thing," Fred said, "You wake her up, tell her that you love her, she tells you that she loves you, and poof, we'll all be humans again by midnight."

"One, there's no hope for you and two, I'm telling Leanne no more Disney movies for you!"

Fred was about to protest when they heard Hermione giggle and call out Freds' name too.

"Mate, she's dreaming about the both of us," Fred gasped out.

"Thanks for pointing that out," George said, "Get out of here, will ya?"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to wake her and figure out why she's here in the first place."

"If that's it, then why can't I stay?" Fred asked.

"Because knowing you you'd make a joke out of her dream and then she'll feel awkward."

"You're probably right," Fred said as he got up.

George sat on the side of the couch and gently rubbed Hermione's arm to wake her up. "Mione," he said and shook her gently again.

Hermione felt someone shaking her awake. "Mione," she heard someone say her name. "Mione, wake up."

Hermione woke up and saw a pair of blue eyes looking at her; she sat straight up, and hit her head against his head. "Ouch, sorry," Hermione rubbed her head and then opened her eyes to see that it was George. "Hey George," Hermione opened her mouth to say something when suddenly she felt as though she was having déjà vu.

"What are you doing here?" George asked, "Not that I mind, but aren't you supposed to be in Hogwarts? Don't tell me that you smuggled yourself out of there."

Hermione shook her head, "No, I just needed to get away from everyone," and before George could open his mouth to say anything, Hermione said, "Ron has a girlfriend."

"Oh," George said sadly, "And you're upset, huh?"

"I… what did you say?" Hermione asked.

"Well, you have to be upset if you're here. I just thought, you know, that you didn't like him _that _way."

"No," Hermione said quickly, "I don't like him like that. What hurts is that he never told me. George, he's been going out with Lavender for a month now and he never once told me."

George sat besides her on the couch and asked as he looked deeply into her eyes, "So, you don't have any feelings for him?"

"No!" Hermione said in almost a disgusted voice.

"Good," George said.

When Hermione just realized that this was the same way that her dream was going she gasped and said, "Excuse me?"

Before George could answer her question, Fred walked into the room, "So, what's going on here?" Fred asked in almost a giddy tone. He then proceeded to sit on the other side of Hermione. _No wait! _Her mind called out, _It's going out of order. This isn't how it's supposed to be. _

"What does it look like?" George asked, upset that his twin was interrupting them. "Ron has a girlfriend and never told Hermione about it."

"It's about time our little brother did something really stupid," Fred said. Hermione's mouth went dry, _Is this really going to happen. _

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Fred and George said at the same time.

The door opened and Leanne walked in, "Here you are!" Leanne said as she walked into the flat, "Ron and Harry are going mental not knowing where you are. I figured you had to be here."

Hermione only shrugged her shoulders. She then turned to Fred, "You knew about Ron, didn't you?"

"Now, Mione, why would you say such a thing?" Fred asked.

"Well, you did give me the keys to your flat, there had to be some kind of reason behind it. You knew that Ron was going with Lavender, you knew that I didn't know, and that I would want to run away for a bit."

"You really are smart," Fred tap her on her nose, "But that's not why I gave you the keys."

"Then why did you?" Hermione asked.

Fred quickly looked at George and then back at Hermione, "That's just something, you're going to have to figure out for yourself." He then got up and took Leanne's hands, "Come on, love, we're going to be late. See you two later," Fred called out and then left the flat.

Hermione watched as Fred and Leanne left and she almost forgot that she was alone with George until George took one of her hands in his and said, "I tell you what, why don't you go into the bathroom, get all cleaned up, and then I'll take you to the leaky cauldron for some lunch, just for old time sakes."

Hermione contemplated that for a moment and then said, "Okay," she gave George a small smile and stood up. She then stopped dead in her tracks and said, "I didn't say something while I was asleep, did I?" Hermione asked almost dreading the answer.

George swallowed hard, but then he gave her a confident, "No." Hermione smiled again and walked into the bathroom.

…

End of Flashback

….

Hermione sat there remembering how their lunch went great. They walked into the Leaky Cauldron and Katy said, "Oh look, here comes the happy couple."

Hermione looked up at George and he shrugged his shoulders and Hermione could only smile back at him.

_Where did everything go wrong? _Hermione asked herself. It was the last time she saw him before today. _Sure, and if you don't there's always us Weasley boys. There's six of us and only one of you. You're destined to end up with one of us. _She remembered at how George said that to her on her birthday. _Doesn't look like that will be coming true any time soon, not unless George is willing to do it himself. _Hermione only laughed at her own thought, knowing that that would never happen.

…

Meanwhile in the Gryffindor Common Room…

The door slammed shut behind George and the sound echoed through the almost empty common room.

"What's up bro?" Fred asked.

George plopped himself onto the couch and kicked over the coffee table in front of him, "She thinks it's from bloody Malfoy!"

"Why's that?" Fred gasped out, not believing his twin.

"Because of the stupid way I signed the card!" George practically screamed, "I thought that it would click. I'm the only one who knows of Mione's obsession with Shakespeare. Or at least I thought so."

Fred whistled low, "How is it that you can screw up so much in such a little amount of time?"

"I'm about this close," George said as he held his thumb and forefinger apart about an inch, "From coming over there and knocking your block off."

"Then why don't you?" Fred said egging his brother on.

"Because that means that I have to get up," George sighed, "Besides I don't think Leanne will be at all happy about you sporting a black eye on your date tonight."

"What about you, you have to look good for tonight, too?" Fred reminded him.

"I'm reconsidering it."

"What?" Fred's eyes widened, "But didn't Ginny already put the package in her room?"

"Yeah, but it's just as easy to get her to take it out. Merlin, you'd think with all the things we've been up to in our 6 and ½ years here, that we'd have found a way to get into the girls dorms."

Fred laughed, "Yeah, like you needed a reason to go up into the girls' dorms. Besides, Georgie boy, you have to see this through," George didn't say anything to Fred's remark, "She's going to be suspecting that the person who has been sending her things all day to show himself."

"Yeah, but when Mione sees me, she's going to think that I've been joking around. Mione is not going to take me seriously."

"Well, then you're just going to have to make her see and if that doesn't work, then you can always just kiss until she understands that your serious."

Suddenly the two boys found out that they weren't by themselves, "You're the one who has been sending everything?"

To Be Continued….

So sorry for the late post! Things have been so hectic in the real world. Besides that I think this is my fourth version of this chapter. I know that Hermione is a bit out of character, but the other chapter 5's that I wrote made her even more out of character. I finally decided on something that I like and I hope you all like too. Enjoy! I'd also like to thank everyone who has been reviewing. I'm thinking of a sequel to this in the future sometime.


	6. Chapter 6

Woooooo! Sorry for the delay, but the last chapter done with and look no flashbacks in this chapter! Now on with the story! Mikimi, was I really that obvious about Ron? Abyssgirl The title came from Frank Sinatra

Disclaimer: The song, Next to be with you, is by Mr. Big.

The two boys turned around to see Ron standing there in the common room. "You?" Ron said at George, "You're the one sending the things to Mione?"

George was about to answer him when Fred said, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in class annoying some teacher with your presence?"

"Or cowering in fear from Snape at least?" George asked with a laugh making Fred laugh too.

Ron scowled at the two boys and stated, "You can't be serious about Hermione!"

George stopped laughing abruptly and said, "Why not?"

"You two are nothing alike. She's serious and you're all jokes. She's smart and you didn't even finish Hogwarts. She likes homework and you like to play pranks. Can't you see, you two are nothing a like."

"Yes, but you see mate," Fred said as he placed his arm around his slightly shorter brothers' shoulders, "they she completes him."

"Fred, please don't try to help," George said, "Look Ron…"

"No, you look George! Hermione and I have been the best of friends since we were 11 years old. You don't even know her, you spend one summer with her and you think you love her? It doesn't work like that!"

"When you find true love, you don't wait for it to work!" George said realizing finally what Tom was saying to him those days so long ago on Hermione's birthday.

Ron, not even paying attention to what his brother was saying, said, "She and I are going to end up together. Everyone knows that!"

"Ron, she doesn't even like you in that way, besides, don't you already have a girlfriend?" George asked getting a bit angry.

"Yeah, but Lavender isn't one of those type of long-term relationships, she doesn't want to marry me!"

"Marry you?" Fred asked laughing, "16 year old little Ronnie is already looking for marriage and he thinks Mione is the one who will marry him."

"Fred, contain yourself," George said as he finally got up from his spot on the couch and walked over to Ron, "So what you're telling me is that you think Hermione is going to wait around while you have little girlfriends and then decide to settle for you when she's ready?"

"Well, I …" Ron didn't finish his sentence because George punched him in the nose, "Bloody hell!" Ron screamed as he held his hand over his hurt nose.

George was about to go after him again when Fred came around and grabbed a hold of George, "You bastard! You don't deserve Hermione, not even as a friend."

"Oh and you think you do?" Ron asked.

George struggled out of Freds' hold on him and ran a hand through his hair, "I don't," George said with a sigh, "But I know that I love her and only want her to be happy," Ron's eyes widened at George's declaration, "That's right lil' brother, I love Hermione, pretty weird huh? And I'm telling her tonight that I love her and if she loves me back, then I…"

"She doesn't love you!" Ron growled at him.

"There's only one way to find out," George said and he left the common room to prepare everything for that night.

"He's never admitted to loving the ol' girl and here he says he loves her twice within ten minutes." Fred clapped his hand on Ron's shoulder and said, "Well, have fun with Lavender tonight," and he too left the common room.

…

Later that day…

Hermione, Harry, and Ginny went to visit with Hagrid right after classes and didn't return back to the castle for another two hours.

When the three of them came back to the common room, Harry, clapped his feet together, bent down, and laid a gentle kiss against Ginny's knuckles. Ginny giggled and Harry parted with the girls to go to his own room to get ready for the night that he had planned for Ginny.

"Oh, girl, I'm so jealous. I should have kept him for myself!" Hermione joked with Ginny.

Ginny laughed too, and said, "Oh, Hermione, just wait, your guy is out there waiting for you," little did Hermione know that Ginny was speaking literarily.

"Yeah, maybe," Hermione paused for a moment and then said, "or then again, maybe not."

"What do you mean by that?" Ginny asked.

"Well, I think I know who's been sending me these gifts."

"Really?" Ginny asked, confused, for if she knew, shouldn't Hermione be a bit more excited? "Who is it?"

"Malfoy."

Ginny had to hold her laughter in, "Malfoy?" Hermione nodded, "You mean Draco Malfoy from Slytherin?" Hermione nodded again, "You mean the boy who hates you just because you were the child of two Muggles?"

"Merlin, yes Ginny!"

"Well, how can you be so sure?"

"Follow me," Hermione said. Ginny didn't have a choice in the matter considering that Hermione grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her up the rest of the stairs to her room. When she opened the door to her room she gasped, "What? How did this get up here?" Hermione saw a rather large present on her bed with nine roses lying across her bed, more then likely having a spell on them to keep them fresh. "Ginny, how could this have possibly gotten up here? Boys are not allowed up to the girls rooms."

"I don't know," Ginny said with a shrug, "Maybe it an inside job," Ginny giggled.

Hermione taking a moment to get what she meant went pale white and said, "Funny, Ginny, really funny."

Before Hermione went to her bed to open her new present she went through her bag looking for the note that she got just that afternoon and handed it to Ginny. She pointed at the closing signature and said, "See, Malfoy!"

Ginny quickly read it and promised to herself that she would bet her brother to a pulp for being so stupid, "Hermione, there is no name, this is Shakespeare."

"That is the part in the play when Romeo wishes not to tell Juliet his name because he is her mortal enemy."

"Mione, I think it just means that the one who has been sending this stuff to you is not ready to let himself be known yet."

"You think?" Hermione asked and Ginny nodded, "And you don't think it's Malfoy?"

"It better not be! He's been going out with Luna for the past two weeks!" Ginny blurted out and then quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

"What?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Mione, you can't tell anyone, promise me!" Ginny practically pleaded with her friend.

"I won't. But Ginny, Malfoy and Luna Lovegood?"

"Hey, there have been weirder matches," _And there will be another one hopefully coming together tonight. _Hermione nodded and opened her mouth to say something when Ginny bounced on Hermione's bed and said, "Come on girl, open your present! I want to see what you got!"

Hermione made her way over to her bed, quickly, and she too bounced on top of her bed. Ginny handed her the present and excitedly waited for her to open it, because she didn't even know what was in it.

Hermione tore at the paper and then lifted the top of the box off of the large box. When she looked inside she gasped. "What is it?" Ginny asked and then Hermione took the item out of the box. It was a stuffed bear holding a guitar in its hands. "Aww, it's cute."

Hermione smiled at the bear and noticed a note on its foot, "What's this?" Hermione asked as she looked at the note, "Press here" was what it said. Hermione did as the note said and then suddenly the bear came to life.

Hold on little girl  
Show me what he's done to you  
Stand up little girl  
A broken heart can't be that bad  
When it's through, it's through  
Fate will twist the both of you  
So come on baby come on over  
Let me be the one to show you

As the bear sang and danced along with the song, the two girls laughed. Hermione gasped and said, "I know this voice."

"It's Mr. Big, isn't it?" Ginny asked.

"Well, he sings it, but this isn't him," Hermione stopped talking as she listened to the bear sing the rest of the song.

I'm the one who wants to be with you  
Deep inside I hope you feel it too  
Waited on a line of greens and blues  
Just to be the next to be with you

Build up your confidence  
So you can be on top for once  
wake up who cares about  
Little boys that talk too much  
I've seen it all go down  
Your game of love was all rained out  
So come on baby, come on over  
Let me be the one to hold you

I'm the one who wants to be with you  
Deep inside I hope you feel it too  
Waited on a line of greens and blues  
Just to be the next to be with you

Why be alone when we can be together baby  
You can make my life worthwhile  
And I can make you start to smile

When it's through, it's through  
Fate will twist the both of you  
So come on baby come on over  
Let me be the one to show you

As the bear stopped singing Hermione looked over to Ginny and asked, "How did you know it was Mr. Big?"

"Oh, you know the twins they love all that muggle stuff."

"Oh, yeah," Hermione agreed. Ginny rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "But wait, there's no note. That's it?" Hermione said sadly, "I thought there was supposed to be something else."

Ginny check the bottom of the box and then pulled out an envelope, "Here's another note!" Ginny said excitedly as she handed the piece of paper over to Hermione.

Hermione unfolded the note and read it out loud:

"My dearest Hermione, if you wish to met me then follow the dancing bear at 8:00 p.m. sharp. Please believe me when I say that I do want to be the next to be with you, always. Always yours, your secret admirer.

P.S. Wear your cloak and grab a scarf, it's pretty cold outside."

Hermione looked confused for a moment and then said, "Follow the dancing bear, does he literally mean that?"

_Knowing my brother, it probably does. _Ginny shrugged her shoulders and said, "So, you're going right?" Hermione bit her lower lip and thought for a moment, "Come on, do something spontaneous! Who knows, this may be the real deal, true love!" Ginny said giddily.

"I doubt that," Hermione said quietly, but then she smiled, "Sure, I mean why not? What do I have to lose, right? I mean besides my dignity, if it ends out that it was just a huge prank."

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Hermione, "Stop thinking like that!" She then jumped off of Hermione's bed and ran for her closet, "Let's pick something out for you to wear!"

Hermione looked at her clock from where she was laying down on her bed, 7:56 p.m., _Four minutes and counting._ She let out a heavy sigh and asked out loud to the bear that she was holding, "Ugh, I wish things would just hurry up!"

She swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood up, rubbing her palms on her jeans and once again straightening out the non-existing wrinkles from her white blouse that Ginny helped her pick out. She stood there with her heavy cloak and scarf and was about to don them on when she saw her clock turn suddenly to 8:00 p.m. Hermione turned her head quickly to look at the bear and almost screamed when she saw the thing sprout to life, jump off her bed, and head to her door.

_Great _Hermione said to herself _Please, don't let anyone see me follow around a stuff bear. _She opened the door and watched as the bear jump down every stair until it reached the common room, where she let out a sigh of relief when she realized that no one was in the common room.

Hermione followed the bear out of the common room and down the quiet hallways where she only had to sneak behind one tapestry from being caught. She was surprised to see how the bear, too, seemed to know to run for cover. When the two of them reached the ground floor, the bear made its' way to the front door. Hermione opened the heavy door and let the bear and herself out into the cold weather.

The bear seemed to be lost as it stood on the snow covered steps, but then Hermione gasped when a path through the snow was being created. The bear followed the path and Hermione followed the bear.

Hermione was about to wonder how much further she had to go, when the bear came to an abrupt stop and sat down on the cold ground. She waited for something to happen, or for someone to show up, but nothing did happen, and no one showed up. Hermione sighed and bent down to pick up the bear when she heard, "Hi, Mione."

…

Meanwhile…

George stood in the shadows watching and waiting for Hermione to show up. He started to get a little nervous as he checked his watch and saw how it was already thirty minutes after eight. _She should have been here by now_ George thought to himself, _Maybe this just wasn't meant to be. _George stuffed his hands into his pant pockets and kicked at the snow. He was about to turn back towards the castle when he saw Hermione come into the clearing. George pushed his thoughts of how this whole situation could go wrong and slowly mad his way to Hermione. While her back was towards him he spoke, "Hi, Mione."

…

Hermione's whole body froze when she heard the voice; she knew that voice. She slowly turned around and saw George. "Hey, George," Hermione said with a forced smile, "so, you're the one whose been sending me things all day today?"

"Yeah, it was me," George said. He opened his mouth to say something else, but nothing would come out.

Hermione stood there and waited for George to say something, explain himself, anything, but he didn't. Hermione grew sad; here she thought she would find someone at the end of this trail who liked her, just to find George. She didn't even suspect that he remotely had the same feelings for her. "Here," Hermione said as she removed the diamond studs out of her ears, _If he didn't say something by now, he's not going to. _She walked over to him and stuffed the pair of earrings into his hands.

"But, Hermione, I bought these for you," George said, thinking that this was her way of telling him that she had no feelings beyond friendship for him.

"George, you have to stop spoiling me. A girl can get used to it," Hermione said with a weak laugh. Before George could respond to Hermione, he heard her say, "I knew that the one singing the song sounded familiar."

"Yeah," George said and moved closer to her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up against him and heard her gasp out his name. Knowing that she was surprised with his actions and not protesting him he continued on. George gently caressed her face with one hand, and with his other he placed on the small of her back, making sure that she wasn't going anywhere. He saw her eyes widen and once again, found that what Tom said was true; those brown eyes did indeed melt his insides. He smiled down at her and quickly captured her lips with his own.

George smiled against her lips when he felt her respond to his kiss. Hermione stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around him, to deepen the kiss. George pulled away and smiled yet again when he heard Hermione protesting. He laid his forehead against her own and said, "Hermione, I love you."

"You… you do?" Hermione asked non-believing. George nodded his head, "But I have always been '_just _Hermione' to you."

George knew what she was talking about without having to ask, "Hermione," he started to explain, "I have been an idiot and that's why it took me so long to figure it out. We're so different, you and I, that I never expected that you would have any feelings towards me. I've been trying to deny my feelings for you for so long, but apparently everyone else knew that I loved you even before I knew. I wouldn't even of done anything today if it wasn't for Ginny to smack me upside the head and tell me to get off my lazy arse and do something about it before I lose you for good," Hermione laughed, "Yeah, good ol' Ginny."

"George," Hermione started out slowly, "I had the same thoughts you did. How could someone like you ever have feelings for me?"

"Mione…"

"And you're right, Gorge, we are totally different, but I don't think that I would love you if you were anything like me; that would be too boring." Hermione said with a smile.

George bent his head down to kiss her again when he noticed that it started to snow, "It's snowing, Mione. Do you want to go in and get somewhere warm?"

"No," Hermione said and stood up to stand on her toes again, "You'll keep me warm, right?"

"Yes, ma'am, now and for always," George said and kissed her yet again.

…

The End… for now.

I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed my story! This is not the end for our two characters, I will be writing a sequel, eventually, but I have other stories to get back to and finish writing. So keep a look out!


	7. Better Ending

I had a better idea of an ending, hope you enjoy, and please read note at bottom of story. Thanks!

Hermione tore at the paper and then lifted the top of the box off of the large box. When she looked inside she gasped. "What is it?" Ginny asked and then Hermione took the item out of the box. It was a stuffed bear holding a guitar in its hands. "Aww, it's cute."

Hermione smiled at the bear and noticed a note on its foot, "What's this?" Hermione asked as she looked at the note, "Press here" was what it said. Hermione did as the note said and then suddenly the bear came to life.

Hold on little girl  
Show me what he's done to you  
Stand up little girl  
A broken heart can't be that bad  
When it's through, it's through  
Fate will twist the both of you  
So come on baby come on over  
Let me be the one to show you

As the bear sang and danced along with the song, the two girls laughed. Hermione gasped and said, "I know this voice."

"It's Mr. Big, isn't it?" Ginny asked.

"Well, he sings it, but this isn't him," Hermione stopped talking as she listened to the bear sing the rest of the song.

I'm the one who wants to be with you  
Deep inside I hope you feel it too  
Waited on a line of greens and blues  
Just to be the next to be with you

Build up your confidence  
So you can be on top for once  
wake up who cares about  
Little boys that talk too much  
I've seen it all go down  
Your game of love was all rained out  
So come on baby, come on over  
Let me be the one to hold you

I'm the one who wants to be with you  
Deep inside I hope you feel it too  
Waited on a line of greens and blues  
Just to be the next to be with you

Why be alone when we can be together baby  
You can make my life worthwhile  
And I can make you start to smile

When it's through, it's through  
Fate will twist the both of you  
So come on baby come on over  
Let me be the one to show you

As the bear stopped singing Hermione looked over to Ginny and asked, "How did you know it was Mr. Big?"

"Oh, you know the twins they love all that muggle stuff."

"Oh, yeah," Hermione agreed. Ginny rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "But wait, there's no note. That's it?" Hermione said sadly, "I thought there was supposed to be something else."

Ginny check the bottom of the box and then pulled out an envelope, "Here's another note!" Ginny said excitedly as she handed the piece of paper over to Hermione.

Hermione unfolded the note and read it out loud:

"_My dearest Hermione, if you wish to met me then follow the dancing bear at 8:00 p.m. sharp. Please believe me when I say that I do want to be the next to be with you. _

_Always yours, your secret admirer._

_P.S. Wear your cloak and grab a scarf, it's pretty cold outside."_

Hermione looked confused for a moment and then said, "Follow the dancing bear, does he literally mean that?"

_Knowing my brother, it probably does. _Ginny shrugged her shoulders and said, "So, you're going right?" Hermione bit her lower lip and thought for a moment, "Come on, do something spontaneous! Who knows, this may be the real deal, true love!" Ginny said giddily.

"I doubt that," Hermione said quietly, but then she smiled, "Sure, I mean why not? What do I have to lose, right? I mean besides my dignity, if it ends out that it was just a huge prank."

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Hermione, "Stop thinking like that!"

She then jumped off of Hermione's bed and ran for her closet, "Let's pick something out for you to wear!"

Hermione looked at her clock from where she was laying down on her bed, 7:56 p.m., _Four minutes and counting._ She let out a heavy sigh and asked out loud to the bear that she was holding, "Ugh, I wish things would just hurry up!"

She swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood up, rubbing her palms on her jeans and once again straightening out the non-existing wrinkles from her white blouse that Ginny helped her pick out. "Come on," Hermione said to herself out loud. "I'm the smartest witch of my time. I _can _figure this out." Even though she told Ginny that she was going to met whoever he secret admirer was, that she was capable of doing something spontaneous, but she still felt a little uneasy. Her woman intuition was telling her that something was not right with this whole thing.

Not being able to stand still, Hermione sat back down at the bed, and looked at the bear that she was supposed to follow in only three minutes. Hermione sighed at the slow motion of time and pressed the bears foot again to hear it sing to her again. Hermione smiled as she heard the bears' words and the promise that it was making to her. Suddenly, Hermiones eyes widened; she knew why the voice sounded so familiar, it was Georges.

Everything started to fall into place. The flowers, the candy from WWW with her favorite chocolates, the Shakespeare's words, it was all George.

All of a sudden her stomach did a few flip-flops and she felt giddy. George Weasley was sending her Valentine's. George Weasley wanted to be the next to be with her. But then another blast of feelings hit her; what if he wasn't serious, what if he was just trying to be nice. Hermione didn't get any more time to think on the subject because at that moment the bear came to life.

Hermione jumped in surprise and watched as the bear jumped off the bed and walked over to the door, but because the door was shut, the bear just continued to walk in place. Hermione bit her lip, she didn't know what to do. She started to pace the room and view her options. "He wouldn't do this as a joke, our friendship means too much to the two of us, so I can rule that out. Oh God, what if he's doing this because he feels bad for me? There's nothing worse then a pity present." she said looking at the bear, who gave no response because it was still trying to lead her to George. "Or even worse, what if Leanne told Fred about me liking George, and trying to be helpful he told George, and now George thinks he's doing something nice, without the thought that he's leading me on." Hermione flopped onto her bed and curled up into a little ball, hugging her knees to her chest, and started to cry, for what reason, she didn't really know.

Meanwhile outside…

George was pacing around where he was waiting for Hermione. He ran his hand through his hair and started to worry. He checked his watch, that Hermione bought him for Christmas, "8:10, okay, there's nothing to worry about, she'll be here soon enough. Ginny said that Hermione was going to come."

Hermione heard her stomach growl and that's when she remembered she missed supper. She looked at her clock on her dresser and realized that it was almost 8:30. She looked over at the floor to where the bear was and saw that whatever spell was placed on it was gone, for it just fell over. Hermione slipped off the bed, picked the bear up and placed it on her bed, and whipped her eyes, hoping that she didn't look like she had been crying for the past 20 minutes. Hermione then stepped out of her room with every intention of making her way to the kitchens to steal some food.

Back outside…

George looked back down at his watch, "8:25, she should have been her by now," then suddenly thoughts of being caught by Filch, or being taunted by Peeves flooded his mind. So he decided to run into the building and just tell Hermione everything while rescuing her.

Hermione was just about to make it to the painting that would take to the kitchens when she heard someone call out her name. When Hermione turned to where the voice was coming from, she saw George standing in the hallway. Choosing to ignore him, she turned and continued her walk to the painting.

George, not understanding why Hermione was ignoring him, ran up to her.

Hermione heard George running towards her. She quickly grabbed for her wand and as he approached her Hermione pointed her wand at George's chest. Before she even got a chance to ask him what was going on, or threaten him to leave her alone, George slapped Hermione's wand out of her hand. Before the two could even hear the wand hit the floor George grabbed Hermione around the waist and pulled her against himself.

Hermione placed her hands on his chest trying to push him away she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Something I should have done from the very beginning," George answered her right before he bent his head down and captured her lips with his own.

Hermione desperately tried to get away from George, for she knew what his kisses could do to her, and she wanted to have a clear head for this conversation. Though as soon as she felt the tip of his tongue outline the seem of her lips, she was lost. Hermione quickly thrust her hands into his thick hair and opened her mouth to him, deepening the kiss. Within seconds George had Hermione up against the wall, with one thigh pressed neatly between her slightly parted legs. Hermione let out a deep moan, which caused George to smile, making Hermione realize what was really going on. '_Just Hermione, just Hermione, just Hermione' _the words kept ringing through her head.

Suddenly Hermione pushed George away roughly, but he didn't release his hold on her, "Hermione?"

Hermione looked up at him, his hair a mess from when her fingers messed it up and tried to avoid his eyes, which was another downfall for her, "No George," Hermione said through quiet tears, "I can't take it anymore."

"Hermione," George said as he wrapped a piece of hair behind her ear, "I love you."

"No," Hermione said as she shook her head, "No you don't. I'm _just _Hermione to you," she said as tears started to cascade down her cheeks.

"Oh, Mione," George said as he cupped her face with his hands and whipped the tears away with his thumbs, "Please don't cry," he said and bent down to caress his lips against her left cheek, "It kills me to see you cry," he said as he laid a soft kiss against her other cheek, "and it kills me even more when I'm the cause of those tears."

Hermione tried to contain her tears as much as possible and said with a sniffle, "I'm sorry, but you've played with my feeling too much this past year and I just can't take anymore of it," she hated to be all girly and cry in front of him, but she couldn't help it, "I don't know if what your doing is out of pity, or a joke, or because you thought you had too, but…"

Before Hermione could continue, George cut her off, "Don't think for a moment that I did this out of pity, Hermione," Hermione could hear the anger in his tone and she wound up biting her bottom lip because she grew nervous, "and," George continued, "if you think I did this as a joke, that's just bad form on our friendship." George took a deep breath and said with a more calm tone, "Though, of course I _had _to do it, because, stupid me, I thought this would be an easier way of telling you that I love you, rather then just coming out and saying it."

Hermione shook her head, yet again, "No you don't, George."

"Hermione, please don't tell me what I'm feeling here," George said, in almost a pleading tone, as he placed her hand over his heart, "isn't love for you, because it is."

"How do you know?" Hermione asked in a quiet tone, not even moving her hand off of George's chest, "How do you know it's love and not something else?" She asked looking straight at his chest instead of at his face.

"I know," George said as he placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face up to look at him, "because I've never felt this way towards _anyone_ before. When I hear your name my heart starts to race and I look for you even though I know you're no where near me. When I see you, my stomach starts to feel funny and I pray that I can talk to you without sounding like an idiot. When I see you smile, I want to pull you close and kiss you. When I see you upset I want to hurt whoever made you cry and then hold you until your better. And Hermione, when I kiss you I swear my heart stops beating and you're the only one who can pull me back." Hermione was quiet and finally stopped crying while listening to Georges' words. "So please, don't tell me that I don't love you, because if that's not love, then I don't know what is."

Hermione took a deep breath and said, "Why couldn't you just tell me? Why the charade? Why Katie?"

George, feeling a little deflated due to the fact that Hermione didn't say 'I love you' back, said, "Hermione, Katie asked me out just as friends, at first, but apparently that's not the way things ended up. Besides," George said without even skipping a beat, "at that time I didn't want to admit that it was you that I wanted. Mione, I'm just not good enough for you."

"That's not true," Hermione protested loudly.

"Yes it is, Mione. I mean I'm older then you, I dropped out of school to open a joke shop. I'm all jokes, you're all books." George was recalling Ron's words only mere hours ago. _Maybe Ron was right, maybe this won't work out_. George was ready to retreat; he put his heart on the line and she wasn't responding the way he had hoped.

Hermione shook her head, "No," she said in a sturdy voice, "Please don't say that. George, your two years older then me, not 200. Who cares if you dropped out of school, you own your own business, that's more then anyone your age can say. Besides, you're not all jokes, you know when it's time to be serious." By the time she finished talking she was only mere inches away from him. "Tell me we can make this work, because I love you too." George smiled from ear to ear, and as he bent his head down to kiss her, Hermione put a hand on his chest and kept him at bay as she said, "Say it."

George smiled wider yet, "We can make this work. You can teach me all the wonderful things that I missed from my seventh year and if there's anyone in this world that can make you learn how to be more carefree it's me."

"Good," was all Hermione was able to say before George brought her into another heated kiss.

The End

A.K.A.

To be continued…

Note to all my readers:

I agreed with the reviewers who said that they didn't like the last chapter of my story, I liked this ending better. It's a little more… let's say mushy, then the previous ending, but I like it.

Yes, I _AM _working on a sequel, but see here's the thing. I have written fan fiction before. I have written A-Team, Ginny/Draco stories, and Smallville fics, and every time I wrote a sequel it came out horrible. To the point where I just stopped writing. So I am trying to finalize my first chapter, make sure I have a well enough plot to go with, and then the first chapter should be within another month.


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